Dreams of Yesterday
by Moofy-Fan
Summary: After the death of his mother, Husky moves in with his father and step family. There he meets Cooro, a strange boy at his new school. Odd powers and ominous dreams only serve to complicate things. As their worlds start to crumble around them, four new friends try to decode the mystery in their shared past, and somehow stay both alive and sane throughout it all.
1. Chapter 1

Wow, first story in what, two years now? I saw what a depressing amount of actual plus anime fics the fandom had and, thanks to my new laptop, felt I'd led a hand to the small but amazing fandom.

Disclaimer: Don't own +anima, never have, never will.

Chapter one

It was everywhere. The water. It swirled all around him, filling his lungs, making it impossible for the child to breath. He strained to reach his arm up towards the light, but as the light did nothing but get dimmer and more blurred, the boy knew it was hopeless. Gazing up at the retreating light he watched as his symbol of hope was blotted out by the silhouette of a fish. Not even knowing how, as the sole of his being as focused on trying to obtain the much needed oxygen to sustain life, his mind somehow wandered to the fish; how it swam so freely, with no struggle or pain, throughout the water. The boy in the water couldn't do anything but wish he too could have the same ease, but it was hopeless as he felt the life his small body was so struggling to keep going fade away.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Urg!" The silver hair boy moaned, slamming a pale hand down onto the annoying machine. "Stupid dream," He groaned, recalling the strange, reoccurring dream. His mother has always told him that if you had a dream three times then it was destined to come true. Let's see, the first time he could remember having the dream he was five, and since the first time he'd now had it eleven more times for a total of twelve times, so the dream and he dying a horrible death should have come true, about four times.

"Looks like mom was wrong, so far, anyway," the boy thought, before quickly shaking his head, as if to rid himself of both the thoughts of his mother and the imaginary water from his dream that still left the ghosts of water trails all over his skinny body and in his hair.

"Husky, Mom said to be down in five minutes if you don't want to be late on your first day," a red haired boy, about a year older than the one on the bed, said, sticking his head into the doorway.

"Yeah, yeah, Keane, whatever," The boy on the bed grumbled, not bothering to remind him that his name was Myrrha, not Husky, and that the woman who had said to come downstairs was not _his _mother.

Husky, or Myrrha, depending on who you were talking to, hurriedly got dressed and headed downstairs, grabbing his book bag on the way. Keane was already sitting at the dining room table, eating what appeared to be Cheerios. Husky walked past him and into a bathroom, not sure why he didn't just use the one upstairs. Well, he was tired, he must have just forgotten.

Looking at his reflection in the fancy mirror on the wall, Husky couldn't help but grimace. It wasn't that he thought himself ugly or any of the sorts, he was actually quite the opposite. Between his silver hair, ocean blue eyes, and pale, smooth skin, he was really quite beautiful and exotic looking, much to almost any ten year old boys' dismay.

Grabbing a hairbrush, he knew in the back of his mind why he had grimaced. He didn't look like his father, no, neither him nor Keane did, but he had to be the spitting image of his newly deceased mother. She had died in a car crash a little over a month ago, and when he had found out what had caused the other car to slam into his mother's, he swore never to drink alcohol.

He had come to live with his father, his wife, and their son, his half-bother Keane, after that. Although his mother never told him any details, he knew that she had been clueless that his father was already married, with a year old son, when he was born.

Putting the brush down and looking into the mirror again he grimaced once more before shaking his head for the second time that morning. How do you get over someone when you see them whenever you look at your own reflection?

Walking back into the dining room Keane gave him a small smile. Before he had moved in, whenever the two boys were in the same room all that would be transferred between them were insults, glares, and even physical attacks. The nickname, Husky, had even been a jab at his voice created by Keane. Although, ironically, he had liked the name and had stopped protesting when Keane called him that, and he even decided that he could go by that name if needed to, instead of the strange sounding Myrrha that teachers always pronounced the wrong way.

Sitting down at the table, Husky swirled the cereal in his bowl around with his spoon, not particularly hungry after his dream and thoughts of his mother.

Keane stood up after glancing at the clock hanging on the wall. "Hey, we should get going if we're gonna be on time," The ginger said, grabbing his book bag off a chair. Husky simply nodded and followed suit, not extremely excited about his first day at a new school. It wasn't that he was going to miss his friends from his old school, they didn't exist, he just didn't want to go through with the whole 'new kid' faze, and he would have to catch up with any work he had missed in the past month.

Walking along the cracked sidewalk both boys were mostly silent. Glancing around himself Husky tried to find a few visual landmarks to go by in case he ever needed to walk to or back from school without Keane. A park, a 7-11, a church, all normal neighborhood things. Keane was making a habit of kicking up the colored leaves scattered on the ground. Despite being annoyed greatly by it, Husky decided not to say anything, already seeing the school come into view.

Sighing softly under his breath, Husky attempted to brace himself for the onslaught of work, other kids, and teachers that was about to be thrown his way, whether he was ready for it or not.

* * *

Hey, this chapter was edited by starnight888 and now reuploaded, so the grammer and spelling mistakes are all gone now, yay :)


	2. Chapter 2

Hello all who are reading this. Sick at home, so decided to put up the next chapter of Dreams of Yesterday.

Disclaimer: I own a copy of each book in the series, but that's about as close as I'll ever get, besides the delusions inside all of us who write fan fiction, that is.

Chapter 2

Husky walked behind a tall, bald man. He couldn't remember his name. Mr. Picklelover? That was probably wrong, but he knew he was some kind of administrator, that kind that sit in the office who are always very busy but you never know what with.

"Here is your classroom, I hope you enjoy your stay at J. Ensor Elementary," Mr. Picklelover said in a monotone, rehearsed voice, holding the door open for Husky. The child nodded before walking in.

The first thing he saw was nothing. He couldn't concentrate on a single thing. When he finally could, all he saw was chaos. Full blown, perpetual fall down up escalator chaos. The silver haired boy turned around, hoping to ask that by some chance he was in the wrong classroom, only to find the door closed and Mr. Picklelover gone. Turning back around he tried to actually see what was going on.

There were kids everywhere. On desks, under desks, and Husky was pretty sure he saw a kid with his legs stuck in a desk. A paper ball flew past his head, causing him to jump. Looking back, he didn't even think about trying to find out who had thrown it. Paper was being thrown everywhere, by several different people. Paper balls, planes, cranes. Wait. Cranes? Who could do origami in this mess?

Finally Husky was able to spot the teacher. She appeared to be trying, and obviously failing, to calm down the class as she searched through a jumbled mess of papers on her desk. Clutching the note Mr. Picklelover had given him, he made his way up to the frantic lady's desk.

"Erm, excuse me?" Husky tried, but didn't think she could hear him over the noise. Luckily for him, she did.

" Oh? Hello, who are you? Wait, are you in this class? No, no! I know who you are, you're the new student, right? Um, is it Marice?" the teacher ranted, half to herself, half to him. Her last word made him twitch slightly. Even though he had been expecting it, it didn't make the mispronunciation any less annoying.

"It's Myrrha, um, Ms..?" he corrected. He noticed that her black hair was frazzled and the entire time she was talking to him she kept messing with the papers on her desk. She seemed to have completely given up on trying to calm down the class, but became more focused on whatever she was looking for. Must be new, Husky thought, feeling almost bad for her, but then again, he felt bad for any sane person forced into this classroom, kind of like himself.

"Marca, Ms. Marca Brighton, although you can just call me Ms. Brighton, Murray," Ms. Brighton introduced herself, getting his name wrong yet again. It was slightly closer though. Slightly.

"Myrrha," he corrected again, although she just nodded, not really paying him much attention.

"Found it!" Ms. Brighton announced happily, holding up whatever she had been looking for under the papers.

"_Whoot!_" Husky covered his ears from the blast of the whistle. The other children stopped what they were doing and ran to their desks. Apparently, this was all routine, as no one seemed to question it for a minute. Husky glanced at the door. He really wanted Mr. Picklelover to come tell him he was in the wrong classroom.

"Alright class," Mr. Brighton started, clapping her hands together happily. "We have a new student today, care to introduce yourself, Mayray?" she asked, turning toward him.

Husky sighed, already fed up with the name changes. She couldn't even just pick one and stick with it. This teacher was already scatter-brained enough, and Husky knew he had a relatively short temper.

"Husky," the young boy nearly growled.

"Excuse me?" the teacher asked, confusion clearly written all over her face.

"If you can't pronounce my name _right_, then just call me Husky, it's less annoying that way," Husky explained, sounding very annoyed at that moment. He heard a few giggles coming from the class, but simply ignored them.

"Um, well then, alright Husky, why don't you, um, take a seat next to Cooro, um, Cooro, raise your hand," Ms. Brighton stammered slightly, taken back by Husky's forcefulness. The silver haired boy simply turned away from the frazzled teacher, she seemed very easy to frazzle, and towards the boy who currently had his hand in the air.

He had black hair, longer then Husky's, almost like their teacher's, with a very small braid in the back. He was smiling brightly, and he looked like one of those kids who was always happy. Husky noticed that he had a half finished paper crane in his hand and a few finished ones scattered across his desk.

So that's who, Husky thought, remembering his earlier question concerning the origin of the cranes. Looking at the other figures on the boy's desk he saw that they weren't just cranes. There was another type of bird, two fish, what was either a bear or a pig, and a bat. Impressive.

Ms. Brighton began talking, something about George Washington crossing the Delaware River, but Husky wasn't really paying attention and neither were several other students. The boy next to him, Cooro, was it, had already finished the crane in his hand and had began something else. Husky wasn't sure what it was, although he didn't have to wait long to find out. Another fish. Man, this kid was fast, and good. By the end of class origami boy had made three more bears, four bats, five fish, three crows and had began to undo some of the cranes to use for the other animals.

"Alright class, lunch time!" Ms. Brighton announced cheerfully. Husky noticed that when she wasn't frazzled, she was happy. Not in any rush to get to the cafeteria only to stand like a lost puppy trying to find a place to sit, Husky took his time gathering up his books.

"Hiya! I'm Cooro, and your Husky, right?" Cooro himself said happily, putting his school of fish into his book bag.

"Um, yeah, hi," Husky mumbled, people never his strong point.

"So your new here, huh? That's cool, do you know anyone yet?" the energetic boy asked, putting the last of the origami in his bag. Husky wondered if it was all going to be crushed by the end of the day.

"Um, no, not really," he replied, beginning to walk away. Keane didn't count. He was in the middle school part of the school, they wouldn't ever see each other. Cooro ran to catch up with him, smiling the whole time.

"Oh, that's cool. Do you have anywhere to sit at lunch, 'cause you can sit with me if ya want to," Cooro offered. Husky blinked, not quite used to such friendly people. He had been expecting to sit alone.

"Um, alright," Husky mumbled, not quite looking the other boy in the eyes. There was something weird about this kid, besides his apparent obsession with origami, some sort of déjà vu feeling almost. Shrugging it off, Husky followed a very happy Cooro towards the lunch room.

The line for buying lunch was extremely long, and Husky was glad he'd listened to Keane's advice about packing a lunch. Sitting down at a table with Cooro he saw that the black haired boy had also brought his lunch.

"So, did ya just move here?" Cooro asked, taking a bite out of an apple. Husky thought it was weird that he ate his apple before his sandwich.

"Yeah, kind of," the silver haired boy answered. Cooro just nodded, already down to the core, which was currently in his mouth. Husky couldn't help but make a face at this. "You eat the core?"

"Yep," Cooro answered once the last of the apple was gone. "Why?"

"Because, you're not… you know what, never mind," Husky started, but gave up at the boy's confused face. It was relatively quiet between the two boys for the rest of lunch. Looking around, Husky wondered why Cooro was eating alone, save for him. Sure, there was something just a little off about him, but he seemed friendly enough.

The rest of the day went by pretty uneventfully. Husky attempted to pay attention to his afternoon classes, and Cooro had stopped making origami, so that distraction was gone, at least.

Finally the bell to go home rang out. Most of the students ran from the classroom before Mr. Brighton could even finish her sentence.

Husky was once again in no big rush. He knew that he had to go meet Keane, but the ginger could wait. Husky didn't like large crowds.

"Here!" a loud voice said, pulling Husky out of his thoughts. Turning towards the voice Husky saw Cooro standing there holding up a silver origami fish. The silver boy just started at the silver figure in confusion, not sure what to do with it.

"What?" he finally managed to ask, still not sure why he was being offered the little fish.

"Well, you kinda remind me of a fish, so here," Cooro explained, although this explanation only caused Husky to be even more confused. How did he remind someone of a fish, of all things?

"Um, thanks, I guess. Um, you're really good at origami," Husky said, rather lamely if he did say so himself, but it was true, Husky just had the people skills of, well, a fish. He examined the figure up close. It was made of shimmery origami paper and looked very complicated, although Husky never had any skill at anything art related, so it didn't take much to impress him if it was in that field.

"You're welcome, well, I gotta get going. Bye!" Cooro called, leaving Husky holding the fish. Noticing he was now the last one in the classroom, Husky slung his book bag over his shoulder and ran out to find Keane, still holding the fish so that it wouldn't get crushed in his backpack.

"There you are! What took you so long?" Keane asked, running up to Husky. Husky just shrugged and started walking along side the red head. "What's that?" Keane asked, just now noticing the silver figure in Husky's hand.

"An origami fish, what's it look like," the silver boy shot sarcastically. Just because they were becoming much more hospitable to each other didn't mean the fighting stopped completely.

"I know that! I meant why do you have it? I didn't know you could make origami," Keane asked, more specific this time around.

"I can't, I didn't make it," Husky said simply, not implying that he was going to say exactly who did make it.

"Well then, who did?" The ginger inquired, hoping he could get Husky to explain.

"Some weird kid in my class, he made like, six fish alone, and gave me one," Husky said, not really looking at Keane while he did, but instead at the little silver fish in his hand. He couldn't stop wondering what Cooro had meant by saying he reminded him of a fish.

The rest or the walk home was calm. Keane asked him how his first day had been. Husky didn't say much, only that his teacher was extremely scatter-brained and had to use a whistle to get the class to calm down, which caused Keane to laugh. He had heard about that teacher, everyone had. It was apparently her first year teaching, right out of college.

Walking into their home Husky went straight up to his room, not bothering to stop and talk to his step-mother. Putting his book bag on the floor by his door, Husky sat down on his bed, still holding the little fish. Husky wasn't used to getting presents, especially from strange children he'd just met. Sure, his family was well off, more than well off actually, but he just wasn't spoiled and then there was the whole, lack of friends thing he had.

Absently his hand went up to his ear and to the earrings he was wearing. They were sapphires, and had belonged to his mother. She used to tell him that they had once belonged to a beautiful mermaid, the last of her kind, but were stolen from her after she was brutally murdered. Husky didn't care much for the story, mermaids never existed, and even if they did, that was a terrible story. But he wasn't going to take them off, even if others thought they were girly, which he was always being teased for in the first place. They belonged to his mother and were one of the last things he had from her.

Suddenly his hand shot down like a pistol. Staring at the shinny fish the silver boy thought of his dream the night before. You remind me of a fish_._ Husky scoffed, he was nothing like a fish. He was terrified of the water and couldn't swim for the life of him.

Putting the fish on a shelf Husky couldn't help but smile just slightly. Even if he was nothing like a fish, it didn't mean he took it as any kind of insult. Plus, despite being random and strange, it was still a pretty nice gesture.

* * *

Well, there's the second chapter for ya. Husky met Cooro! And Keane's there. I know Keane was in the first chapter too, but I love the little ginger, he doesn't get enough attention! Well then, tell me what you think. Good? Bad? Cliché? I need feedback! I mean, please review, if you do, all of your wildest dreams will come true….yeah….


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Cooro kicked off his shoes as he walked into his room. Climbing onto his small bed he dumped out his book bag, the origami he had folded earlier spilling all over the small bed. Leaning over the edge he pulled out a plastic storage case. There wasn't much inside. A few old coloring books, some beat up toys, and a few old books, all covered with an assortment of feathers and dust. Picking up most of the origami, he didn't have room on his shelf for all of it, the boy put them into the case.

Setting the figures he didn't put in the box down in front of him, Cooro simply stared. There was a bear, a bat and a bird. He wasn't sure why he didn't keep one of the fish and cranes, but simply shrugged it off. He thought of the fish he had given that new boy, Husky. For some reason he felt he would of kept a fish, if he hadn't given that one away.

Looking back down at the origami he was struck with an idea. Picking up the black bird and the bat, he placed them down on his shelf. The black haired boy then picked up the bear. Putting his shoes back on and slightly wishing he'd just left them on in the first place, headed out of the little church he called home, trying to find a certain teenager the he knew.

Walking along the streets Cooro wasn't sure where he would be, he'd always just happened upon him by chance. Glancing down at the bear in his hand Cooro wondered if he would like it, or if he'd just think it was weird. If he did think it was weird though, Cooro wouldn't mind, people had thought he was weird his entire life, he was used to it by now.

The black haired boy had showed up on the steps of the church when he was about a month old. No one really tried to look for his parents, if they'd left him on the steps of a church then they obviously couldn't care for him, but still wanted him to be cared for. Cooro didn't think about them much, he'd never had a reason to. The church wasn't an orphanage, Cooro was the only child there, but for some reason the clergy decided to have him live in the upstairs room. Mother superior, the one who took care of Cooro the most and lived there was well, although not exactly near enough to an actual mother, was always trying to better orphanages and the current system for parentless children. He assumed that was why he lived there, they didn't like the current system.

Growing up he'd always been happy and friendly, although for some reason had never been able to keep friends. Most of the kids, once they found out just how obedient he was, began to take full advantage of him, but Cooro never truly minded, he wanted to help his friends. They'd always end up taking it too far though, and Cooro would have to stop being their friend. That was the only thing that really got the black haired boy down, but never for too long, he'd be happy again in no time.

Turning a corner Cooro saw who he was looking for. "Senri!" He called enthusiastically. The teen turned around when he heard his name. He was only fifteen, although he appeared older, had long grey hair, and grey eyes, although one was covered with a black eye patch, and he wore simple, mainly brown clothes. Cooro wasn't sure how Senri had lost the eye, he never told him, but then again, he never told anyone much of anything.

"Hi Senri! I made this for you," Cooro explained, handing the older boy the figure. "It's a bear, you like it?" Cooro asked, knowing Senri would be silent unless directly questioned. Senri nodded and smiled softly, looking at the little brown bear.

Cooro's eyes caught sight of a black marking on the other boy's hand. "Oh! Senri, did you get a tattoo?" Cooro asked excitedly, grabbing his arm and examining the black markings. He didn't think Senri was old enough to get a tattoo, well, maybe with parent permission he could. Staring at the marks Cooro couldn't help but think it looked like a stylized bear claw, ironically.

Looking up Cooro saw Senri shake his head 'no' and then proceed to stare at his arm, a confused expression on his face. Cooro cocked his head to the side, Senri's actions bewildering him. He knew that Senri had a bad memory, or at least it appeared that way, but surely he would remember something like that.

"Oh, well, apparently you did, heh, weird. Well, I should probably get going, um, see ya later," Cooro called, beginning to walk back towards his church. Senri looked up from his arm and nodded at the younger boy before starting to walk down the street in the opposite direction.

Cooro frowned slightly, he had meant to ask Senri where he lived, but had gotten distracted by the tattoo. It worried the child that he couldn't remember getting it. Usually he would just try to put it down as one of Senri's many quirks, but this time he couldn't for some reason, and it bothered him.

Once at the church Cooro went back into his room on the top floor and plopped onto his bed and laid down. He thought about the two figures still on his shelf, and stole a glance at them. He wasn't going to give away the bird, but the bat, he might give someone the bat, if he ever got any more friends, that is.

Absently his mind drifted to that new boy, there was something about him, something familiar. He wondered if they could be friends; he hoped so. It was strange, he felt almost like he knew him already, but there was no way for that, it must of just been meaningless dejavu. Without meaning to, the black haired boy slowly began to drift off to sleep.

He was on a hill, at least he thought he was. He wanted to look around, but his body wouldn't move for him, it was almost like he was in someone else's body. There were feathers everywhere, but as his eyes came into focus, he saw they weren't simply feathers, but whole birds. Crows. Cooro had always liked Crows. They were never given the same respect as ravens, but they only thing a raven had that a crow didn't was some poem by a guy who really needed to look on the bright side of things, at least in Cooro's point of view.

Without any warning, he began to rise. It felt amazing, but somehow wrong. He couldn't figure out why, though, and he had no time to stop and try and figure it out.

He heard somebody shouting, but couldn't make out what it was saying. He kept heading up slowly, and the shouting got louder, and more. It was still impossible to understand, though. It was as if his head was under water, and all the sounds, even the squawks of the crows, were miles away.

Something grabbed his arm, and it was as if his head broke though the surface. The yells of the birds were almost deafening, so he almost didn't hear the very familiar voice yelling. "You owe us _that_ much!" Cooro felt his body begin to turn towards the voice, and he was glad about that, he wanted to see who it was, and ask them what was going on, if his body let him, that is.

"Owie!" Cooro yelped, now sitting on the floor of his room, tangled in his blanket next to his bed. Managing to untangle himself, Cooro stood up. Yawning, the black haired boy thought about the strange dream. That voice, once he heard it, it had sounded so familiar. He knew he'd recognized it from somewhere, but what ever it was decided to stay locked in the corners of his mind, just out of his reach.

What the voice had said bothered him a bit too. What did he owe, and who was 'us.' He knew there had bee more than one person there, but he had no idea how many more. It hadn't sounded mad, though, but sad, and desperate, like it was near tears or something.

The last thing that had bothered Cooro was the flying. He had dreams where he was flying all the time, but this one was different. It felt wrong, like he was flying on wings that didn't belong to him or like he was flying up towards his death.

Maybe that was why the voice had sounded so desperate. Cooro didn't know. Sighing, he shook his head. He was over analyzing it, and he shouldn't really care, after all, he had had weird dreams before, what did it matter?

Rubbing his eyes Cooro started down the stairs, hoping dinner was ready once he got downstairs.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello there! Sorry this chapter took so long to get out. This has been the last week before finals, so it's been hectic. Finals actually start tomorrow, and I should be studying… Oh well. Oh yes, and thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far, it makes me happy. Now on with the story.

Disclaimer: Don't own +anima, even though it totally seems like I do.

Chapter 4

Husky was anxious. He didn't know why, he didn't have anything he had to do, but he was just so fidgety. After he had put the little fish on his shelf, he started some of his math homework. It took him twice as long as it normally would, he just couldn't concentrate. The silver haired boy kept stopping, spinning in his rolly chair, tapping his pencil and doodling on the margins of the paper.

Even once he was finished, he couldn't relax. He'd had this problem before, but it hadn't really been this bad in a long time. He began to wish that he could go back home, but quickly pushed the thought out of his head. This was his home now and there wasn't anything he could do to change it.

Sighing, the silver boy stood up and put on a light grey hoodie. Going down the stairs, he made his way to the front door as fast as he could, only to be stopped by a strict voice.

"Where are you going, Myrrah?" his step-mother, Dylana, asked, coming into the room. Her red hair was in a high ponytail and her eyes were fixed in the same glare she had been giving him for as long as he'd known her.

"Out," Husky answered in a monotone voice. He didn't like being near Dylana, never did. He didn't mind Keane too much anymore, at least he'd been making an attempt at being hospitable since Husky had arrived. In fact, he was almost sure that the ginger _didn't_ hate his guts completely, although the same thing could not be said for his mother, not in the slightest.

"Out where?" She asked him in a clipped voice. Husky knew she was going to ask this, but truthfully, he didn't know the answer himself yet.

"I don't know, just out. I already did my homework, I'll be back before dark. No thanks, bye" Husky said, cutting Dylana off every time she opened her mouth and headed out the door without a single glance back.

Husky wasn't sure where he was heading, not that he knew many places in the town to begin with. Keane had offered to show him around multiple times when he had first moved in, but Husky had declined each time, hanging out with Keane was still too weird. Heading down a random street, he decided that he didn't care where he was going as long as he was able to get back all right.

After a few blocks the silver haired boy stopped at what appeared to be a park. There was playground equipment and picnic benches and a path that led into a surprisingly large woods.

Sitting down on one of the benches Husky tried to imagine the way back, making sure he could remember the way. He could, and decided not to head any farther in order to prevent getting lost. At least for today, anyway.

Husky just sat there for several minutes, not doing much of anything. The walk had calmed him down, like he had hope. Closing his ocean eyes he sat quietly, just enjoying the fresh air for a bit, the sounds of yelling children growing fainter as the day got later.

"Watch out!" the two words were screeched, pulling the young boy out of his meditation quite quickly, although not quick enough. Before he could defend himself in any way a volleyball blasted towards him and hit him square in the face.

"Ouch! Whad the…" Husky yelled as he stood up, holding his nose where it had already begun to bleed.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" A girl around his age asked, running up to him. She had long, light brown hair, only slightly obscured by a flower decorated hat. The skirt she wore also had flowers on it, but that's not what Husky noticed. No, what he noticed was the volleyball in her hands. The volleyball that had very recently sunk his face in.

"Oh _yeah_, I'm jusds peachy! Whad's it look wike to you? Stupid gurl," Husky shot at the girl, his speech slightly slurred by the bloody nose.

"Well, sorry, I didn't mean to hit you in the face with a volleyball, maybe if you weren't sleeping you would have noticed," The girl snapped back, now equally as angry as Husky was.

"I wasn'd sleeping, I was, urg, neber mind. I don' need to tawk to you," The silver boy growled, although the angry effect was pretty much ruined by his pronunciation. Another girl had come up to the two, but wasn't able to say anything before the angry brunette pushed the volleyball into her hands and began following Husky away.

"Don't need to talk to me? I'll decide that. If you weren't sleeping then what were you doing? Because it sure looked like sleeping to me," The girl asked, making it very clear that she was not going to leave Husky alone until she saw fit.

"Minding my own business, until some stupid girl decided to give me a bloody nose!" Husky yelled, glad that the blood had begun to stop it's flow, and he could talk a bit more clearly. He really wished this girl would just leave, he didn't like girls to begin with, and this one was really starting to grate on his nerves.

"I already said that I didn't mean it! And I have a name and it's not 'Stupid Girl'" She yelled back, starting to follow him out of the park.

"Don't care," was all Husky said. The girl didn't say anything after that, she just kept on chasing after him. Finally the silver haired boy couldn't take it anymore. "What do you want? Gonna stalk me all the way home, stupide femme?" Husky yelled, finally turning around to face her.

"For you to accept my apology," the girl said, crossing her arms. Her angry face wasn't quite perfect though, as she was trying to figure out exactly the boy had called her.

"What?" Husky asked, blinking a few times, the anger in his voice now completely changed over to confusion.

"You heard me," The girl said, arms still crossed. Husky simply turned back around and kept walking. "Hey!" The brunette yelled, beginning to run after him again.

"Not gonna happen," Husky said without turning around. Finally he reached his house. The girl followed him all the way up to the door, only to have Husky turn around to her once he was halfway through it. "Bye now, stupid girl," Husky said, closing the door before she could start yelling at him again. Peeking out the window he waited until he saw she actually left the yard. He didn't want her to start knocking and have Keane or Dylana let her inside. Once she was gone the silver boy turned to wash off his face, hoping he'd be able to before anyone saw the blood.

"Whoa, Husky, what happened?" Of course he wouldn't be able to, though, that would be against the will of the universe for him to actually have some _good_ luck.

"Got hit in the face by some stupid girl with a volleyball," Husky explained, walking past Keane and into the bathroom.

The ginger followed and watched him wipe the dried blood off from the doorway. "Must of hit pretty hard, did you know her?" Keane asked as Husky dried his face off.

"Nope, and don't want to. She then had the nerve to chase me all the way home and demand that I accept her apology," Husky snorted and headed towards his room.

"Sounds like fun, she's not still out there, is she?" Keane asked, sounding slightly worried.

"No. I'm gonna get some rest, my stupid face hurts. Tell me when dinners done," Husky grumbled, sitting down on his bed. Keane nodded, still standing in the doorway. Did he ever come past the doorway?

"Will do," The ginger said before leaving, and closed the door behind him.

Husky awoke to the sound of his alarm clock, highly disoriented. "Urg, what the? What time?" Husky grumbled, rubbing his eyes and reaching for the clock. 7:20 am, Keane hadn't waken him for dinner. Speaking of the devil, the red head had poked his head into the door at just that moment.

"Sorry Husky, tried to wake you last night, but you were out cold," Keane explained. Husky just nodded, still not fully awake. The red head then left, allowing Husky to change into some new clothes. He still had on his ones from yesterday.

Heading downstairs the silver haired boy went straight towards the table, hungry from missing dinner. Soon the two were on their way to school, managing to leave a bit earlier than the day before.

Walking along Husky made sure his landmarks were still there. The park, the 7-11, and the church. As Husky looked up at the church he caught eyes with a rather familiar black haired figure.

"Husky! I didn't know you walked to school this way!" Cooro said, smiling happily. The smile faded rather quickly, though. "What happened? Did you get hit?" Cooro asked, obviously growing concerned.

Husky's hand when up to his face, right around his nose where the volleyball had hit. Ouch. Definitely sore, and apparently, definitely bruised. "S'nothing, some girl hit me in the face with a volleyball yesterday, it's fine," Husky explained, yet again.

"Oh, alright, hope it gets better!" Cooro said, smiling once again. Keane, who had been staring at Cooro, turned to Husky.

"Who's this? Friend of yours?" He asked, looking back over at Cooro.

"I guess, he's the kid that gave me the fish," Husky said, shrugging. Keane just nodded and Cooro smiled, not that he had stopped, but glad none the less that Husky hadn't said that they weren't friends or anything.

Finally the three boys reached the school. Keane gave them a quick goodbye as he left to head over to the middle school section of the building. "So, who was that, anyway? You're brother?" Cooro asked. Husky nodded.

"Yeah, well, half-brother, but you know," Husky said, trying to maneuver though the crowd of students. Even though they looked nothing alike, people could usually tell they were related. Attempting to avoid a crowd of older kids, Husky ended up tripping into someone, knocking them over. "Oh, sorry about that, You!" Husky yelled, glaring at the girl on the hallway floor.

"You!" she yelled back, dusting herself off and quickly standing up. Husky glared at the girl, and she glared back, until Cooro finally came, and just looked on, confused, between the two.

"Come on Cooro, let's go!," Husky yelled, and began to walk away. Cooro followed, although so did the girl.

"Oh no, not this again, apologize for knocking me down!" The girl demanded. Cooro saw that for whatever reason, this girl seemed to disliked Husky just as much as he seemed to disliked her.

"Well, I was going to, but then I saw who it was, so… No." Husky said, still not slowing down.

"Um, Husky? Who's this?" Cooro asked, sounding slightly confused.

"Don't know, don't care," Husky grumbled, looking down the hallway and trying to remember if his class was to the right or left.

"My name is Nana! And I said I was sorry for hitting you in the face!" Nana yelled, obviously exasperated.

Oh, so that's who she is, Cooro thought, struggling to keep up with the two angry children.

"Once again, I don't care," Husky said, starting to turn right.

"Um, Husky, our class is this way," Cooro said, gesturing towards the left. Dang it! Husky thought, turning around and heading towards the indicated direction. Nana kept on following the two boys, much to Husky's annoyance.

"Don't you gotta get to class?" Husky growled, spinning around to face the brunette. Cooro had to backtrack a few steps, having walked past the two, not expecting the sudden stop. Nana puffed out her cheeks and spun around on her heels, heading towards her classroom and away from the two. "Finally," Husky mumbled, starting to walk back down the hallway again.

"Well, she seemed nice," Cooro commented, not a hint of sarcasms in his voice. Husky simply stared at the slightly older boy, a look of disbelief on his face.

"You've got to be kidding me," Husky finally managed to say, obviously not agreeing with Cooro in the least.

"No, she does, you two are just really alike, so you naturally clash. Plus, she hit you in the face with a volleyball, which looks like it probably hurt," Cooro explained nonchalantly. Husky stopped dead in his tracks, causing Cooro to have to backtrack yet again. He had an incredulous look on his face, which only caused Cooro to be even more confused.

"What?" the black haired boy asked, truly bewildered, but people tended to get like this around him a little bit. Apparently Cooro didn't appear as perceptive as he really was.

"N-nothing! I'm nothing like that stupid girl! Come on, we're gonna be late for class," Husky stuttered, beginning to walk down the hallway.

"Okay!" Cooro said brightly, following Husky yet again. Well, he did until Husky tried to make another wrong turn and was forced to correct him and lead the way.

Class passed rather quickly, the two boys able to get inside just before the bell rang, not that Ms. Brighton would of noticed if they were late anyway. She'd lost her whistle again.

Husky sat with Cooro at lunch. He found it strange that they were once again alone and that, even more so, he had apparently made a friend of some sort. It definitely wasn't a department he was very experienced in.

"I wonder where Nana's sitting," Cooro said, looking around the cafeteria curiously. Husky bit into his tuna sandwich angrily. Cooro didn't know why but he had giggled when he saw what the silver boy had for lunch. Probably because of his strange association of Husky with fish. He was just really… shinny.

"Why would you care?" Husky grumbled once he had swallowed.

"I already told you, she seems nice," Cooro said, but stopped looking around all the same.

Afternoon classes passed as quickly as morning had, surprisingly. Soon the bell was ringing, cutting Ms. Brighton off in the middle of her sentence yet again. Husky wondered if that happened everyday, or if the past two were just unlucky for her.

"Do you and your brother walk home the same way you come to school?" Cooro asked, to which Husky nodded. "Cool, can I walk with you then?"

"Sure," the silver boy answered, spotting Keane in the crowd. The three boys walked along the sidewalk, Keane introducing himself formally to Cooro and vice-versa. Once they reached the church the black haired boy said goodbye and ran inside.

"Does he live there? I mean, he came out of it this morning too," Keane asked, starting to walk towards their home.

"Donno," Husky mumbled, glancing back at the church absently. He made a mental note to make sure to ask Cooro about that, if it ever came up.

* * *

Yay! Longest chapter so far, I think anyway. Hopefully that makes up for the long wait. Oh, and for those of you who are wondering, Husky called Nana a stupid girl in French. He's so original : ) Well, please review while I go and have a panic attack about my visual arts final.


	5. Chapter 5

Hello one and all. School is finally out, so I should have more time to work on this in between work, trying to find a second job, all the house work and a shiz-load of AP summer work. Okay, maybe not much extra time, but I'll still be updating at a regular basis. Disclaimer: Don't own +anima, nothing witty this time.

Chapter 5

Husky had never needed to ask Cooro about where he lived. The black haired boy came out of the church and went back inside every day for the rest of the week. That was enough evidence for the younger boy without having to pry.

Over the course of that week things fell into a comfortable pattern for Husky. He'd wake up. Get ready, walk to school with Keane and Cooro, argue with Nana, class, lunch, more class, walk home, homework, avoid Dylana, dinner, not see his dad, sleep, and do it all over again.

This routine worked very nicely, until Saturday. No school only meant goodbye to most of his routine, not the joy of relaxation and free time that it did to most kids. It was noon and Husky had spent the entire day so far in his room, at a lose for what to do. Keane was over at a friend's house. He'd offered for him to come, but the silver boy had declined, not wanting to feel like a tag-a-long. He knew Keane was trying, but he almost missed the constant fighting. This new, nice Keane was too different, Husky was too used to the bickering.

Sitting on his bed, the silver boy thumbed through a book he'd already read twice. Setting it down he stood up and started putting his shoes. Husky decided he would go for a walk, that had calmed him down the last time he hadn't known what to do. Heading out the front door he couldn't help but smiled, glad he'd been able to avoid Dylana this time.

Once on the street Husky wasn't sure where to go. He still didn't know the town well, and it wasn't like he had brought any money with him, and he wasn't going to chance running into Dylana to go back inside to get some. Turning to the right Husky decided to would go back to that park, seeing as it was the only place outside of school he had been to on his own so far.

Reaching the park Husky was that their was a teen with long grey hair wearing an eye patch (weird…) sitting on his bench. This caused the silver boy to frown slightly, annoyed with having to sit somewhere else. Despite only sitting there once before, Husky had this weird habit of hating to change his seat when coming back to a place.

Not feeling like finding another bench the skinny boy began walking along the path that led into the forest. Reaching a part where it ran over a small stream, he left the trail. Picking up a large stick, the silver boy used it to steady himself as he walked along the rocks lining the stream.

After walking for about ten minutes Husky reached a beautiful spot in the stream. There was a tiny little waterfall that spilled into a large pool. A tree trunk had long ago fallen over the pool, laying just about a foot over the water's surface.

A small smile played on his lips as he walked over to the base of the fallen tree. Taking off his shoes Husky walked onto the middle of the trunk before sitting down and placing his feet into the water. The silver haired boy stayed like this for a while, eyes closed, just listening to the sound of the water. Despite being terrified of swimming, the sound of water had always had a calming effect on him. Soon, he was having a hard time holding his head up and he began to drift asleep, still sitting upright on the trunk of the overturned tree.

He was standing at the bottom of a large hill. Looking up to its top he stared at what looked like a large stone table, surrounded by hundreds of black birds. It was pretty creepy. He became vaguely aware of some figures next to him, but his real focus was what was on top of the stone table.

There was a boy standing on the top. He looked annoyingly familiar, but Husky just couldn't place him. It was hard for him to focus, like he needed glasses or something. His thoughts were cut off when something began to happen to the boy on the table.

Wings, as black as the birds surrounding him, suddenly grew out of the child's back. The figures next to him said something, he might of even said something, but he couldn't hear it, and it felt as though he wasn't in control of his own body. His eyes were still fixed on the other boy as he began to beat his pitch-black wings and rose off the table, almost painfully slowly.

Husky began to run. He didn't know why, but he felt that if that boy got away now, something terrible would happen. The closer he got the more dense the birds were as if they were purposefully trying to keep him from getting to him, and the more panicked Husky got. The people beside him were pushing the crows away just as desperately as he was. The boy kept on rising and Husky knew he should know who he was but he couldn't think in his panic.

Finally Husky was able to get to the top. The first thing he did was grab the mystery boy's arm so that he couldn't get any higher. A voice next to him started yelling something Husky couldn't understand, but it sounded apologetic and desperate. Then he started to yell something himself. It was strange, knowing you were yelling and yet not being able to actually hear it.

He could feel the arm in his hand relax, and saw the wings on the boy's back begin to disappear. Relief instantly began to fill him. Whatever terrible thing that was going to happen wasn't anymore. The mystery boy began to turn around, and Husky wondered exactly who it was he was so worried about.

"Arg!" Husky yelled, desperately trying to get his head above the surface. "Gah! What the..? Water!" The silver boy questioned, somehow managing to sit up properly. The water only reached to the middle of his chest. Extremely disoriented, Husky just sat there for about a minute, trying to remember how he ended up in the middle of a stream.

Looking up Husky saw the tree trunk he had apparently fallen asleep on. Now it made sense! It was a dream! Of course, the boy thought, Attempting to dismiss his dream. People can't just sprout wings like that. Sighing, Husky couldn't help but think about it though. He rarely dreamed, and when he did, it was never as vivid, except for the drowning one, of course.

A branch that was slowly floating by hit him and reminded him that, hey, you're still sitting in the middle of a stream, fully clothed save for your shoes.

Standing up quickly Husky waded over to where he had left his shoes. It must have been around two thirty now, he'd been out of it for a while. Putting on his shoes he was glad that at least they were dry. His coat only made him colder now, so he took it off. Picking up the stick he had left next to his shoes, he began walking along the stream and back to the path.

When he reached the trail it wasn't long before he was back at the main park, still sopping wet. He really hoped he could make it to his room before anyone saw him, but unfortunately, he wasn't even able to make it to his house.

"Husky! Hi!" Cooro called, running over to the wet boy. Once he reached him though, he looked Husky over once, twice, three times. "What happened?" He asked finally, not able to come up with a reason on his own as to why Husky would be dripping wet, in his clothes, in the middle of October.

"I fell off a log in the park," Husky mumbled, trying to keep it as simple as possible, not mentioning his strange dream, or even that he had fallen asleep in the first place.

"Oh, are you hurt?" Cooro asked, looking him over once more, this time to see if he could spot any injuries. Things didn't seem to go very well for the other boy when he went outside.

"No, I'm fine, just wet," Husky sighed, running a hand through his hair. "So, what's up with you?" He asked, hoping to get the attention off of himself.

"Nothin much, just ran into someone and was heading back, but then I saw you, so I ran over here," Cooro said. Husky just nodded, maybe he could stay out with Cooro until he dried off, but he was pretty cold. Not to mention he'd never really just hung out with someone before. "You're shivering, maybe you should go home and change," The black haired boy suggested, noticing something Husky hadn't even realized he was doing.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I should probably get going, bye," Husky said, he must be colder than he thought.

Reaching the front steps Husky just stood there with his hand on the doorknob for a few moments. He really didn't feel like dealing with Dylana if she saw him. Letting out a small sigh, he turned the doorknob and stepped inside.

So far, so good, Husky thought, seeing the front room empty. Closing the door as gently as he could he made his way towards the stairs. He had almost made it all the way up too, but then he heard a flat voice, full of disdain, state "You're dripping all over the floor."

"I'm covered in water, what would you expect?" Husky asked sarcastically. He was still shivering, the wet clothes sticking to his skinny body, chilling him to the bone.

"And why, mind you, are you covered in water?" Dylana asked, her voice just as bitter as her last remark had been.

"I fell in a river in the park, now may I please go change, my queen?" Husky asked, the last two words dripping with sarcasm. Queen was a name Husky had given his step-mother after knowing her for about two hours. Something about her just radiated the arrogance and superiority he felt a queen would poses.

Without saying a word Dylana turned on her heals and left the room. Husky took that as a yes and continued his way to his room.

Throwing his wet clothes in a hamper the skinny boy quickly changed into some pajamas and climbed into his bed. It wasn't late at all, but he was absolutely freezing. "Urg, stupid dream," Husky mumbled after sneezing. He knew it wasn't the dream's fault he had fallen into the river, well, it could have been, but mainly he just felt like blaming something for his bad luck.

Once his thoughts turned to his strange dream he couldn't steer them away again. It had the same feel as his reoccurring dream. They weren't like normal dreams, they felt more like faded memories. He wondered who the other people had been, and if he actually knew them in real life, or if they were just figments of his imagination.

He couldn't remember anything about the two people who had been next to him, and that bothered him for some reason. He should know who they are, or something like that, but they were just blank silhouettes. He didn't want them to be.

The boy on the table, however, was a different story. He was wearing some white, baggy clothes, and his hair was pitch black, but that was all he could remember about him. Except for those wings. A shiver went down the silver boy's back. Those wings, there was something just wrong about them. He couldn't figure out what it was though. Husky smiled just a bit when he remembered how the boy had stopped trying to fly away once he grabbed him, and how those terrible wings had begun to disappear.

Husky almost immediately wiped the smile off his face. What was he doing? That had just been a very strange dream that he shouldn't be giving this much attention to. It wasn't real, and it defiantly not some distant memory. It was just a dream. Nothing more, nothing less.

Rolling over in his bed Husky scanned the room, looking for something to preoccupies his thoughts. There wasn't really much in there, though. He hadn't really brought much from his old home when he had moved in.

Looking over at his shelf, his cerulean eyes landed on the little origami fish. He wondered how Cooro was doing. He had seemed fine when he had run into him on the way home, but for some reason the silver boy had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Keane walked down the hall towards Husky's room. He'd just gotten home from Reilly's house and his mother had told him to go get Myrrah for dinner. Keane sighed, his mother's eyes always got so cold when talking about Husky. Opening the door the ginger saw Husky bundled up in his sheets, fast asleep. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Keane closed the door. They could heat up his food later, his little brother looked way too tired to disturb right now.

* * *

Hurray! Done. This one took me a bit longer to type up because I've been so preoccupied with Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. Dose anyone else here watch that? Can't believe it's almost over : ( Anyway, please review. Till next time.


	6. Chapter 6

Bojour all. I never know what to write here. So I'll just skip to the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: I do not own plus anima, tadaaa.

Chapter 6

"C'mon Husky, he's probably sick or something," Keane said, starting to walk away from the church. Husky just nodded as he rubbed his nose and began to follow his brother silently. It was Monday, and Husky had gotten a small cold from his fall in the river, not the he would admit it. He really didn't feel like staying home all day when he wasn't required to.

Glancing back at the church, the silver boy sighed. His routine had gotten messed up anyway. The two boys had waited outside the church for a good ten minutes before they absolutely had to leave. Looking forward again Husky hoped that Cooro really did just have a cold or something, not liking the feeling he was getting.

Reaching the school Husky watched as Keane hurried off to his classes. The middle school started earlier than the elementary, so Keane was running late while Husky still had time to spare.

Putting some books into his locker Husky inwardly cursed after sneezing yet again. He absolutely hated being sick. Slamming his locker he didn't notice the three kids walking up to him until one leaned against the locker next to his own.

"So, you're Husky, right?" The one leaning on the locker asked. He was around the same age as Husky, and had clean cut black hair and brown eyes. His clothes looked expensive, but almost purposefully disheveled. The blue eyed boy was instantly ticked off at the 'rich prick' vibe that seemed to radiate off of him.

"Yeah?" It was more of a question than a statement. Husky turned to look at the other two boys. There wasn't anything really remarkable about them, and he could think only one word. Cronies.

"I'm Selim, I've seen you around and thought I'd give you some advice. That is, before it's too late," The boy, Selim, said, pushing himself off the locker. Husky did not like where this was going, but decided that he would listen to this 'advice' as Selim put it. Not that he would actually follow it, most likely.

"That kid you've been hanging around with, Cooro, I'd ditch him while you still have the chance," The rich boy said, crossing his arms and stepping in front of Husky.

Husky blinked in confusion. What did he mean, ditch Cooro? "What are you talking about?" The silver boy demanded, crossing his arms like Selim had. Husky noticed the two cronies get slightly closer. Guess they don't like people standing up to their master, Husky thought bitterly.

"He's a freak, not to mention bad luck. You don't want to get caught up with him," Selim said as if it was obvious. Husky swore he was one step away from growling at the little prick.

"How would you know what I want? Sorry, but I'm going to have to ignore your oh so thoughtful advice," Husky spat, his voice coated with sarcasm. His attempt to push past Selim was halted by crony number 1. He was taller than Husky, with brown hair and eyes. As Husky had said before, nothing remarkable.

"Well, it ya won't listen we're gonna have ta deal with ya like we dealt with the little freak," Crony #1 said as he cracked his knuckles. Husky felt crony #2 come up behind him, and was suddenly aware of how empty the halls were. The silver boy narrowed his eyes, trying to look as threatening as possible, which is surprisingly more than most people expect from the beauty he sadly was.

"What did you do to Cooro? Why isn't he in school today?" Husky demanded, his voice like venom.

"Husky!" a voice called urgently before either of the cronies or Selim could respond to his questions.

"Urg! Nana! What do you want?" Husky yelled, glancing back and forth between her and the smirking Selim.

"My locker's stuck, help me open it!" Nana demanded, pulling at his arm. Husky didn't take his eyes off Selim, who seemed to find all this very amusing, as he pulled himself out of her grasp.

"Open it yourself," He growled, hoping the bothersome girl would just go away.

"Help me," Nana growled back, pulling Husky away from the other three boys, despite his struggles to get away. Only after they had turned a corner did she finally let go of him.

"What was that about? Your locker's not even over here!" Husky yelled, looking back in the direction he was just dragged from, as if he was considering heading back.

"My locker's fine! I just needed an excuse to get you away from those three!" Nana spat back like it was obvious, her voice harsher than it had been in front of the others.

"Huh?" Husky asked, looking truly confused.

"They were about to beat you up, or are you really that oblivious? There's no way you could take on three kids at once! Especially when two of them are way bigger than you," Nana explained, sounding exasperated, although Husky still looked confused.

"Why would you help me with that? Not that I needed help," Husky asked, adding the last part quickly.

"Because now you owe me. Oh, and get to class!" Nana yelled, running off down the hallway, leaving a star-struck Husky behind.

"Stupid girl!" the boy called after her finally, before grumbling and heading off towards his class, not rushing since he was already late.

Class couldn't of passed any slower for Husky. He wanted it to just end already so he could go and see what those jerks had done to Cooro. It didn't occur to him that he'd only known the boy for a week now. Just adding to his misery was the almost constant sneezing. The silver haired boy swore that this day could not get any worse. He had forgotten about lunch.

Sitting down at his usual spot Husky hoped that rich prick Selim would leave him alone. Nana had been right about one thing, despite being a stupid girl, and that was that he could not take on three at once. He could take any one of them head to head, but no one had a fair shot so outnumbered.

Glancing around the cafeteria Husky was relieved to catch no sight of them. Biting into his tuna fish Husky thought it was awfully quiet without Cooro's constant chatter. He wondered what Selim had meant by calling Cooro a freak. Sure he was a little strange, definitely different from most people, but it wasn't anything significant enough to make him a target for bullies, was it?

Husky sighed softly. He had always been a target for bullies too, and freak was just one of the nicer names they had given him, so maybe he wasn't the best judge on whether or not someone fitted in with the social norm.

Finally lunch was over and the day more than halfway done. Back in class Husky still couldn't concentrate on Ms. Brighton's lessons. Not that it really worried him. He already knew half of this stuff anyway. Husky doodled on the side of his paper. It was just a little design, something he'd been doodling as long as he could doodle. It basically looked like a pair of waves, or maybe gills, with three raindrops coming off the bottom. He wasn't exactly a skilled artist or anything, but his hand seemed to unconsciously make that design whenever he was bored with a pencil in his hand.

After what seemed like an eternity the bell to leave rang. Husky packed his books as quick as possible, hoping to get out without any delays. "Excuse me, Husky?" As per usual, luck was not on his side.

"Yes, Ms. Brighton?" Husky asked as he walked up to her desk, trying to hold back a sneeze. It didn't work.

"Bless you. Well, you seem to be friends with Cooro. Do you know where he lives?" Husky nodded. "Great, if you have the time, do you think you could take him his homework. Poor boy misses school so much, maybe I should call and see if he's alright," Ms. Brighton said, mumbling the last part to her left more then to the boy in front of her.

"Sure, goodbye, Ms. Brighton," Husky said, grabbing the books and leaving. The last thing she had said bothered him. Cooro missed school a lot? Trying to shrug it off, the silver boy looked down at the homework in his hands. He would ask Cooro about that when he saw him, which he definitely would now. Maybe luck was on his side today, just a little bit.

Finding Keane waiting outside where he usually was, Husky explained about needing to give Cooro his homework. He purposefully left out the near fight and worry for the black haired boy. "Alright, he lives at that church right?" Keane asked.

"Yeah. You can go on ahead if you want, I'm gonna stay a while and see if he's okay," Husky said, hoping Keane would take the hint and leave him alone.

"Sure, I got a lot of homework to do anyway," The two didn't talk much the rest of the way to the little church. Husky waited until Keane turned the corner before starting up the steps. He never made it to the top, though.

"Husky, whatcha doin?" came Cooro's voice from behind the silver haired child. Turning around Husky saw Cooro standing at the bottom of the steps, smiling and waving. He didn't look sick at all, but his eye…

"Cooro! How'd you get a black eye?" Husky asked. He already had a pretty good idea, but he wanted to see what Cooro would say. Husky was back at the bottom of the stone steps when Cooro answered.

"Oh, this? I just kind of walked into a pole," Cooro explained innocently. Husky would of believed him, too, he'd said it so nonchalantly. He would of, if he didn't already know what had actually happened.

"Don't lie to me," Husky demanded, and he would of crossed his arms if they weren't already full of books. Cooro looked genuinely surprised. Apparently no one had ever questioned his act before now.

"What are you talking about Husky? I'm not lying," Cooro said, still seeming genuine. Husky didn't like it, to get that good at lying, one needed practice, and a lot of it.

"I met Selim and his little cronies today. They said that they would have to 'deal with me like they dealt with you' and now you have a black eye and you weren't at school today and you're less sick than I am!" Husky ranted quickly, sneezing after he was finished. Cooro's face almost instantly fell.

"They didn't hurt you, did they?" The black haired boy asked, looking very worried.

"No, but they hurt you. Oh, and Ms. Brighton said you miss school a lot, is it because of those jerks?" Husky asked angrily. Cooro didn't say anything, just standing there biting his bottom lip nervously. It was obvious no one ever called him out on his act before. Husky sighed. "Look, here's your homework, if those jerks ever mess with you again, tell me, got it? Don't just run away from school, you're only letting them win if you don't stand up for yourself," Husky said, handing the slightly older boy his books. It was weird, he'd never tried to encourage or help someone before now, let alone a friend with a bully problem.

Cooro smiled and nodded. "Alright Husky, I will. Thanks," He said happily, beginning to head up the steps of the church.

"Hey, Cooro," Husky called before the black haired boy had managed to reach the top. Cooro stopped and turned around, a slightly puzzled expression on his face. Husky shuffled his feet, not sure what had possessed him to want to ask this. "So, erm, this church, you like, live here?" he stuttered, not wanting to seem nosey or anything. Cooro nodded and kept his focus on Husky, expecting another question, which the silver haired boy did ask. "Why?"

"Donno, my parents left me here as a baby," Cooro explained, not seeming fazed by it in the least. Husky wasn't sure how genuine it was though, not after seeing the boy's other acting abilities.

"Oh, okay then, well, see you," Husky said, starting to head back towards his house. Cooro smiled and waved at Husky, trying not to drop his books at the same time.

"Okay Husky, see ya," He called, running the rest of the way up the stone steps.

Husky sighed and looked back towards the little church. One week he had known the strange, ebony haired boy, and yet it seemed so much longer. He wondered if this was what it was like to have a real friend. He never had before, so he wouldn't of known. He was pretty sure Cooro had never had one either, especially after everything today. Turning away, the silver boy started back towards his home, if this was what having a real friend was like, it was weird, yes, but weird doesn't necessarily mean bad.

* * *

If anyone knows where I got the inspiration for the character Selim, internet cookies and brownies for you. If not, it means absolutely nothing, just something to make me giggle like a school girl when writing this. Well, please review, and things are going to start to really pick up soon story-line wise. Only a few more chapters.


	7. Chapter 7

Hola. It's 1:50am here, but I've been staying up to at least three for the past week. I love summer. Well, here's the next chapter of DoY. Wonder if I can get it typed before I fall asleep.

Oh, and _italics_ are a flashback.

Disclaimer- Don't own +anima

Chapter 7

Cooro closed the door to his room with his foot before setting the books Husky had given him down on his bed. So, Selim had gotten to Husky? Cooro smiled softly. This was the first time someone had actually decided to stick with him after the rich boy threatened them.

Looking out the window the boy could just make out the top of the school. A group of black birds flew off in the direction he had been staring. Yeah, he had always been different from the other kids. Something about him made others almost weary, no matter how friendly he tried to be. He always just ended up being bullied.

The black haired boy watched the line of birds make their way across the sky. He'd always had a strange desire to fly like that. It was a strange thing, but the sky almost called at him. Cooro cringed, though, remembering the first, and intelligently last, time he had attempted to actually fly.

_Cooro was only seven years old. He was on his very first field trip, to a nature center none the less! The group of children had just left the bird exhibit and were on their way to lunch. The small black haired boy's mind was reeling and his eyes were bright with wonder. How he wanted to fly like those birds! He had even been able to have a hawk land on his outstretched arm. It was amazing, how those wings allowed something so big to fly so high._

_Looking at his chaperone, busy with all the other children demanding lunch, Cooro got an idea. Making sure no one was watching, the young boy snuck away from the group. He knew sneaking was bad, and they had been told many times to not wander off, but Cooro couldn't wait until he got home to try out hit plan. He was too excited._

_Walking back into the bird exhibit Cooro grabbed as many feathers as he could. He made sure to get the largest ones he could find, because he was bigger then those birds. Hands full he left before anyone could see him, and began to look for a place to launch. _

_He didn't know how to get to the top of the buildings, although that would certainly be high enough. Looking around some more he found the perfect perch. That tree was so tall and wide it had to be a bajillion years old! Making sure not to drop any of his feathers the young boy began to climb up the ancient looking tree._

"_Dis looks high enough," Cooro smiled to himself. Walking out father on the branch he tried to make sure none of the other branches would be in his way once he took off._

"_Cooro, where are you?" Came the voice of his chaperone. The young boy frowned slightly. He didn't want anyone to try and stop him, he'd better try now before anyone found him._

_Clutching the feather's in his hands tightly he closed his eyes. "One, two…" he could feel the wind blow his hair as he sped down. He didn't want to go down, though, he wanted to go up. Flapping his small arms he tried to fly like the birds had, hoping their feathers would work the same for him as they did for them. They didn't, though. The boy kept on speeding down, becoming more and more frantic._

_The pain was like a hot blade stabbing him in the leg. The tears started immediately. He wanted to get up and run to an adult, they would make the pain go away, but his leg wouldn't let him move. Of all the feathers he had only two were left, being squeezed to death in his right hand. _

"_Oh my…! Cooro!" Cooro faintly heard the chaperone yell over his own screams. At least now he didn't need to run to an adult, they had found him._

Cooro sighed. The bullying had gotten a lot worse after that. Looking at the books Husky had brought him, he decided he might as well see what homework he had. Not much, luckily, just math. Cooro sat at his tiny desk for a while, struggling with the problems. He'd never been very good at math. He was much better at English and anything else that required creativity. He glanced over at his bed, maybe he could just take a small break and draw a bit.

Closing his math book, he wasn't going to draw, even though he wanted to. He was going to ask for help. Picking up the pile he started to head outside. He wasn't quite sure where to find this person, or even if he could help him. He would give him the time of day though, and that's more than Cooro could expect from a lot of people.

Walking into the park Cooro smiled, seeing the grey haired teen he had been looking for sitting on a wooden bench. Sitting down beside him Cooro opened his math book on his lap. "Hi Senri," The black haired boy greeted. Senri didn't say anything back, not that Cooro had expected him to. The teen just turned towards him with a small smile. It faded though, and he poked Cooro lightly under his right eye.

"Oh, don't worry, I got that taken care of," Cooro tried to reassure the older boy. "Could you help me with my math homework?" He asked, quickly trying to change the subject.

Senri wasn't that much help, although he did show Cooro how to work a few of the problems. Cooro would get distracted though, whenever he was the tattoo on the older boy's right arm. A bear arm, Cooro would think absently. Senri with a bear arm. Finally he finished his math.

"Thanks, Senri!" Cooro called, starting to head back home. It was beginning to get dark. Seri waved goodbye to the younger boy. Reaching the steps of the church Cooro stopped, his thoughts going back to Senri. He had known the older boy for a little over a year now, but he was still such a mystery. "A bear arm," Cooro mumbled softly, before heading up the stone steps. He still felt like drawling, and now he knew what.

Cooro stood on the steps of the church the next morning, waiting for Husky and Keane to arrive. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, humming a small tune. Today seemed like it was going to be a good day. Looking down the street Cooro saw two figures making their way towards him.

"Husky! Keane, hi!" Cooro called, running up to the two boys. Husky simply nodded his greeting, and Keane smiled at him.

"Hey, you feeling better? Husky told me about how you walked into a pole," Keane said, trying to strike up a conversation. Cooro glanced at Husky and couldn't help but smile. The silver boy was staring down at his shoes and kicking at the dirt, basically trying desperately to not meet Cooro's eyes.

"Yep, I'm feeling fine now, though," Cooro answered Keane happily.

Reaching the school Keane left the two younger boys as they headed their separate ways. Husky leaned against the locker next to Cooro as the black haired boy took out his books.

"Hey, Husky? Thanks for not telling Keane, about, you know," Cooro thanked the skinny boy next to him. Husky just looked away and snorted a bit.

"Hmp, none of his business, why would I tell him?" he grumbled. Cooro smiled, he knew there was more to it than that, but he wasn't going to press it. The two boys headed towards their class, both glad that Selim had decided to leave them alone, at least for now.

Class passed rather quickly for Cooro, although he noticed Husky kept sniffling and nodding off. Poor boy looked sick as a dog and like he hadn't slept a wink all night.

Cooro wondered if they other boy's health had anything to do with the day he had found him dripping wet and shivering outside.

Sitting down at his usual lunch table Cooro began eating his apple. He loved apples, they were just so good and juicy. Husky didn't exactly look in the mood for talking, so Cooro decided he would work on that picture he had started last night. Pulling out an old sketch book he flipped open to the page he was looking for.

It was Senri, although Cooro had changed a few things about him. His clothes looked Native American inspired. He was pretty sure Senri was Native American anyway. The biggest change, though, was his right arm. It was covered in fur, but you could still see the tattoo that had inspired the drawling. Where his fingers should be were long, pointed claws. The bear arm was stretched out in front of Senri, and his hair and eye patch were blowing behind him. He looked ready to fight.

"Whoa," Cooro heard Husky whisper next to him. "Did you _draw _that?" The silver boy asked, his eyes not leaving the drawling the entire time.

"Yep, you like it? It's someone I know, his name's Senri. He doesn't really have a bear claw, though," Cooro explained, glad someone seemed to like his work. Husky just nodded, still staring at the drawling.

"I know him," Husky mumbled, still looking as if he was in a trance. That threw Cooro for a loop. Since when did Husky know Senri?

"Really?" Cooro asked, looking at Husky puzzled. Husky blinked a few times and shook him head, as if trying to shake himself out of a spell or something.

"N-no! Not really, anyway. I just… saw him at the park once. I never talked to him or anything," Husky explained, looking away from the picture. Cooro smiled, of course Husky never actually talked to Senri.

The rest of lunch passed rather uneventfully. Cooro kept noticing Husky stealing glances at his picture though, as if trying to figure something out without being noticed.

Once back in class Cooro didn't pay much attention. Not that this was unusual for him. People always said he had at least a mild case of ADD.

Staring out the window Cooro watched as a huge flock of crows passed overhead. Must be heading south, the ebony haired boy though absently. A part of the flock broke off from the main group and landed a large tree not very far from the window. There were so many of them, it reminded Cooro of his dream, when he had been on the hill and surrounded by all those birds.

Cooro felt a small, prickling sensation begin to form on both of his shoulders. Reaching up with one hand he began to massage one of the spots. It felt like tiny pin-pricks, or pins and needles. As quickly as the feeling had come on, it vanished again. Looking back out the window, the tree was completely empty.

Cooro blinked a few times, making sure what he saw was true. It was, the crows were all gone, as if they had simply melted away. Like a dream.

Class was finally over and Cooro stood next to Husky's locker as they other boy attempted to pull out the books he would need for homework. The black haired boy hadn't said anything since the crows outside the window up and disappeared. He glanced at his shoulder for the tenth time since the feeling had stopped. Their was absolutely nothing wrong or different about it.

Husky slammed his locker shut and let out a sigh. "Alright, what's wrong?" he asked, a no nonsense tone to his voice as he crossed his arms. Cooro blinked a few times, confused by his friend's actions.

"Whatcha mean, Husky? Nothings wrong," Cooro asked happily, not realizing that he had been acting strange.

"You've been silent since class ended. I may have only known you for a week, but I can tell something's up," Husky explained. Cooro blinked again. Had it really only been a week? He could have sworn it was so much longer.

The ebony boy wasn't really sure how to answer Husky's question. Nothing should be up, the birds had simply flown away when he hadn't been looking. Even though he knew this, it still bothered him for some unknown reason. He thought about just telling Husky it was nothing again, but so far the silver boy had proven to be the only person, besides Senri, who could see through his act, or just care enough to try.

"There was a whole bunch of birds outside the window during class, but after I looked away for just a second, they were all gone. It just kind of bothered me a bit," Cooro explained, deciding to just go with the truth. Husky seemed to approve of this as he nodded his head.

"I'm sure they all just flew away," Husky said, reassuring Cooro. The black haired boy nodded. He knew that was probably what happened. Walking down the hallway Cooro caught a glimpse of Nana in the crowd. He looked over to Husky, who was walking slightly in front of him. He hadn't gotten the chance to talk to her today. It had almost been like the silver boy was trying to avoid her. Cooro couldn't help but wonder if something had happened when he was gone yesterday.

Meeting up with Keane like they always did the three boys began walking home. It was a little strange. Cooro had seen Keane around in the hallways once or twice before Husky had arrived, but they were brothers. Well, Husky had said they were only half brothers, so maybe Husky had been living with his other parent up until recently. Cooro wasn't about to ask, though. It wasn't any of his business to go prying into.

Reaching the church Cooro waved goodbye to the two boys and headed inside. Once in his room the black haired boy set his book bag on the floor and sat on his bed. He was tired, but didn't feel like taking a nap. Glancing up at his shelf, Cooro's eyes caught the two little origami figures. Smiling, Cooro was suddenly struck with who to give the bat to.

* * *

Voila! It is now…. 3:35 am exactly. This can't be healthy…. Well, I hope you enjoyed the by-product of my unhealthy habits. Please review.


	8. Chapter 8

Having some writers block on my other story, so I'm adding the next chapter of this because it's much easier to just type up and edit a pre-written chapter than writing, and editing a non-existent one.

Well, here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer: Don't own +anima.

Chapter 8

Husky laid down on his bed. He was exhausted. He had woken up at around midnight last night because of his stupid reoccurring dream. How many times had he had it now? He'd lost count. The main thing was though, he hadn't been able to fall back to sleep afterwards, and was now completely wiped out.

He wished that he could talk to someone about it. He had always gone to his mother about the dreams. She'd manage to calm him down, somehow, but now that she was gone… Husky sat up and shook his head, it was no use thinking about her now. It definitely wasn't helping him at all.

The silver haired boy looked around his room, hoping for something that could distract him from his current train of thought, at least until he was able to get some sleep. His eyes landed on the origami fish that Cooro had given him, but that only brought him straight back to his dream. He closed his eyes tightly, trying to block out his thoughts, but the more you try to not think about something, the more you can't get it out of your head.

"Ah-choo! Urg! Stupid cold!" Husky yelled to the empty room. Well, at least he was thinking about something else now. He felt _terrible_. He was pretty sure both Keane and Cooro had noticed, but he wasn't about to stay home. He had hated missing school even before he moved here, and had still been living with mom…

No, bad thoughts. Think of something else.

Standing up, Husky decided he would actually go take some medicine. Maybe it would help his cold and put him to sleep faster, too.

In the kitchen he opened the medicine cabinet. He usually took liquid Tylenol. He hated it, it tasted disgusting, but that's what his mom made him take, but they only had Advil, and only in pill form.

Husky mentally cursed himself. Why couldn't he stop thinking about her today? He had actually been able to distract himself ever since he'd started school. That was the longest since, well, he had been able to distract himself was the point. He knew it all that stupid dream's fault that he couldn't anymore. Maybe if he could just talk to someone, do something normal, he would be able to distract himself and ignore it again. Cooro was his only friend though, and in reality they had only just met not too long ago. He didn't want to seem too clingy. Sure, there was Keane, but him being nice still made Husky feel weird. It made him think of when they used to fight instead, and that was a part of the life he was trying to forget right now.

Putting the Advil bottle away he turned around. Right into Dylana. Damn it, he swore on the inside, nearly cringing. "Sorry," He mumbled, looking down at the floor. Before she could say anything he ran past her towards the stairs that led to his room. He was not in the mood for her today, that was for sure.

Back in his room now, Husky was still exhausted, and still desperate for a distraction. He started going over his day in his mind. It was pretty normal, save for when Cooro had gotten all quiet, and lunch.

_That picture_. He had no idea why or how, but Husky had somehow known who it was before Cooro had said anything. It wasn't just recognizing him as the kid on the park bench. He knew his name! As soon as he had saw it, he knew the boy's name was Senri.

Husky shook his head. There had to be some reasonable explanation for that. Perhaps he had actually met the teen sometime before and had just forgotten. That had to be it, there was no other way. He wasn't a psychic, after all.

Deciding that his life was getting much too confusing to think about, and sleep still cruelly eluding him, the silver boy decided to get ahead in his math class. They were moving much too slowly, anyway.

Husky had finished two chapters in his math book and had no idea how much time had passes by the time Keane had come knocking on his door. "Hey, dinner's done," the ginger said, sticking his head in the doorway.

"I'm not hungry," Husky mumbled, not looking up from his math. He was really starting to hate dinner time. He could barely eat with Dylana glaring daggers into his skull the entire time. Keane seemed oblivious to this, though, and wasn't about to let Husky go hungry without a fight.

"Ya sure? I mean, you're already a stick," Keane taunted, coming into the room fully now. Husky still didn't look up, hoping that his half-bother would get the message and leave.

"I'm sure, I'll just heat some up later," Husky sighed. He was still exhausted from not sleeping, sick from falling in the river, and, contrary to what he was telling Keane, hungry. He couldn't deal with Dylana today, though. He would just end up storming out of the room or something.

"Fine, but make sure you eat sometime, alright? You don't really have any weight to lose, ya know?" Keane conceded. Husky just nodded, still not turning to face the ginger. Keane sighed in defeat before turning and leaving the younger boy's room.

Husky ended up falling asleep before he had gotten a chance to heat up his food. He hadn't even had the chance to get up from his desk before passing out. His uncomfortable position and his stomach had woken the silver haired boy up at around two in the morning.

Walking through the house in the dark Husky realized it was still very unfamiliar to him. Only when you can walk though a house in pitch black without bumping into anything could you say you really know it. When you bump into something every seven steps, you might as well be in a stranger's house. Or recently redecorated, but that's beside the point.

Finally in the kitchen Husky placed the leftover casserole in the microwave. He knew it was childish, but he liked to try to get something done before the microwave's timer ran out. Hurrying, Husky tried to poor himself a drink. Rushing when one is still half asleep, though, probably isn't the best idea, and when one is clumsy when fully awake and taking his time, it's even worse. Needless to say, the cup ended up tipping over, spilling it's contents all over the counter.

"Damn it!" Husky growled, putting the bottle down quickly and grabbing some paper towels. "Just can't get any worse, can it?" The young boy grumbled to himself, trying to keep the drink from leaking off the counter top.

"What are you doing?" Dylana asked, standing tall and stiff in the doorway in her nightgown and robe. Spoke too soon.

"Fell asleep before coming down to heat up dinner, woke up, was hungry, came down, spilled a drink and am now poring myself another one," Husky said, not even bothering to ask what she was doing up at this time of night, but hoping that just telling her everything would stop her from staying longer and asking more questions. Luckily, it worked, and she simply nodded her head and left. She still glared daggers at his head the entire time, of course. It didn't bother him much though, he was almost used to it by now.

"Husky! You look terrible!" Cooro explained, looking the younger boy up and down the next morning. He knew what his friend had said was true, sleeping at a desk till two in the morning then not getting back to sleep until three will do that to you.

"See? I told you! You're sick or something, you should just go back home," Keane said, turning towards his brother. Husky knew he was right too. He was sick, but he wasn't about to stay home. It was Wednesday, anyway, the week was halfway over. He could hold out until the weekend, then rest.

"I'm fine, I just didn't get much sleep last night," Husky mumbled, hoping the other two boys would just drop the subject. Glancing at the two, though, he realized neither of them believed him at all. Although, thankfully, it seemed like they were just going to let it go, for now, at least.

Once in school Cooro attempted to find Nana, but couldn't. Husky definitely didn't mind that. He couldn't think clear enough to fight with that annoying girl today.

Class passed rather quickly for once, despite feeling like he was going to pass out about half the time. Actually, that was probably part of the reason it did. He was as good as asleep the entire time. Soon lunch came and passed, then the rest of the day, and finally the rest of the week. It was pretty uneventful, Husky started feeling a bit better on Thursday, although on Friday it looked like Keane had started to get the sniffles. The only other thing was that Nana hadn't showed up for the rest of the week, not that Husky cared or anything.

It was now the weekend again, and Husky was no longer sick, so his whole 'rest on the weekend plan' was pretty much useless. So here he was, sitting in his room, waiting for the time to pass. He was slightly more apprehensive about going out for a walk. He did not want to end up waist deep in water again. The chances of that happening again were extremely slim of course, but still.

Finally, around two o'clock, the boredom became too much. He supposed most kids his age would be watching T.V. Either Yu-Gi-Oh or some other thing, but Husky had never liked the brain frying box of light, as he so cleverly called it.

Giving in, the silver boy decided to leave his house. He wasn't going to go to the park though. He had already been there twice, and the neighborhood was big. There had to be other things besides a park.

Wandering aimlessly down a street, Husky allowed him mind to wander a bit. He had to admit, his new life wasn't _that_ bad. Sure, he was positive that Dylana hated his guts with the burning passion of a thousand suns, and he hadn't seen his dad for longer than ten minutes since he had moved in, or ever really. Keane wasn't too bad, though, and crazily enough, he had actually made a _friend _of all things. Sure, there was the whole reason his life had to change in the first place that he still couldn't say out loud, or even in his mind, but he had resumed being very good at ignoring that little fact again.

"Gah!" Husky yelled as someone pulled him backwards by the collar of his shirt, momentarily strangling him. Before he could turn around and yell at whoever had done it, a truck sped past him. Right where he would have been, so close the wind made his hair blow. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as what nearly happened registered in his mind. Sure, he hadn't been paying attention, but…

"Husky! Are you okay? You almost walked right in front of that truck! Husky?" Husky turned towards the worried voice. Of course. Funny, something seemed strangely ironic about this to the silver haired boy.

"Y-yeah Cooro, I'm fine, thanks," Husky mumbled, still slightly shell shocked. He had been uneasy around cars ever since his mom had… yeah. He'd even avoided riding in them as much as possible, but then to be nearly hit by one anyway.

"You sure? You look even paler than usual," Cooro asked, looking concerned for his friend. Husky just nodded. He knew he still looked pretty shaken up, though.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I promise," Husky said before shaking his head and starting back down the sidewalk. Cooro quickly began to fallow the skinny boy, still not believing him.

"Alright, if you say so. So, what's up?" Cooro conceded, not wanting to push something if Husky didn't want to talk about it, but not wanting to leave him alone, either. The other boy seemed to calm down slightly, not having to worry about telling Cooro what was on his mind, and being able to change the subject and try to forget what just happened.

"Nothing really, just kind of wandering around. I still haven't seen much of the town yet. You?" Husky said, getting out of the way of some lady pushing a shopping cart full of egg cartons down the sidewalk just in time.

"Yeah, I just got bored and decided to go for a walk," Cooro said, still staring at the retreating form of the egg lady. "Oh, I know, why don't I show you around town? If you want that is," Cooro suggested happily.

"Sure," The silver boy shrugged. Cooro then proceeded to drag him all around the rest of the afternoon. Husky wasn't really interested in most of the places, it was nice to know where they were at least.

"I better get back home," Cooro said once they were back in a part of town Husky recognized. He just nodded, after all, he should probably start heading back, too. "You sure your okay?" Cooro asked the slightly younger boy again, for the first time since they had changed the subject. It caught Husky off guard, and he nearly told him no, not really.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it. Well, see you Monday, I guess," Husky said, starting to leave. Cooro waved at him happily.

"Okay, see ya Monday," He called, beginning to walk in the opposite direction, towards the little church he called home.

* * *

Yay, done. Well, I can't think of anything to write here, so I'll let you guys do it. Please review.


	9. Chapter 9

I am so tired. Doing a lot of cleaning for a yard sale I'm having tomorrow. It's 2:33 am here, but I figured I could get a head start on this while my sister is in the shower. Anyway, the continuing saga of…. THIS!

I don't own +anima… and neither do you.

Chapter 9

Cooro jabbered on about something or another. He wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying, even if he was the one speaking. It was Monday morning and he was walking to school with Husky. Keane wasn't there today. The silver boy said he had caught a cold. Cooro couldn't help but think that a lot of people were getting sick lately. Husky had been sick all last week, contrary to what Husky himself might tell you, and Nana had been out for the last three days. Now Keane was sick, although he probably just caught it from Husky.

Nana. Cooro hoped she was back in school today. His thoughts turned to the paper figure in his back pack. It was black, like the one that still remained on his shelf, and it had wings, but it wasn't a bird. It was weird, for Husky and Senri, the animal he gave them kind of matched their personalities. Something about Husky just seemed to personify the ocean, merciless, but still nice and fun if he liked you. A bottle full of contradictions. Not to mention his eyes were the exact color of the ocean on a sunny day. Plus he was so shinny! Just like a fish.

Senri, in all the time Cooro had known him, had always seemed so strong, but never intimidating. Cooro could tell that the teen could be though, if he needed to, just like a bear. A bear who happened to act like a teddy bear most of the time. Also, he was so mountainy, and his tattoo! Not that Cooro had known anything about that before hand, but it still counted.

Nana however, she wasn't really anything like a bat. Nothing about her really registered as black, or night or vampires (unless maybe you count the sparkly kind, but Cooro didn't, cause he just always confused them with giant pixies) or any of those other things people associate with bats. She was more of the exact opposite, actually. She always wore bright colors and flowers and seemed to be pretty bubbly and happy most of the time (one of these exceptions would be when she was talking to Husky though.)

"Cooro, hey, you okay? You just kind of stopped in the middle of your sentence," Husky asked, somehow managing to look both concerned and annoyed at the same time. Like Cooro had said before, a bottle full of contradictions that boy.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking about something," Cooro smiled. He hadn't even realized he'd done that. Husky looked unconvinced, but let it drop, seeing as the school was coming into view.

Cooro stood next to Husky's locker as the other boy tried to pull out a book from the bottom of a pile without the whole thing falling over onto him. So far, not so good. The black haired boy wasn't really paying attention though as he tried to spot Nana. Oh yay, she was at her locker. Cooro would have been worried if she didn't show up again, especially after having the whole weekend to get better from whatever she had.

"Huh? Cooro? Where'd you..? Hey! Wait up!" Cooro heard Husky slam his locker shut and run over as he casually walked to where Nana was.

"Hiya! Where were you all last week?" Cooro asked, surprising her slightly.

"Oh, hi Cooro. I was just a little sick, it was nothing," The brown haired girl said, standing up and shutting the metal door. Husky stopped next to Cooro, trying to not drop the books in his hands. It really was amusing how clumsy he is. He got a look of disdain on his face though, once he saw who the other boy was talking to.

"Urg, if I had known where you were heading, I wouldn't of rushed," Husky grumbled, trying his best to look annoyed. Cooro just smiled. He knew Husky probably thought of Nana as a friend as much as he did. Sure, they'd only know her for about two weeks now, but they had only known each other for three, and she wasn't in their class. Something just clicked between them.

"Nice to see you too, Husky. And how've you been?" Nana asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Yep, Nana was happy and bubbly all right, except when talking to Husky. It was almost like a contest with those two.

"Oh Nana, I got you something," Cooro announced, partially because that was one of the reasons he had came over here, and partially to stop the fight that was about to break out if Husky had been allowed to talk. The other two children looked over at him, identical looks of confusion on their faces. "Here it is!" Cooro declared happily, pulling the paper bat out. While Nana only seemed more confused, Husky seemed less.

"Origami again?" The sliver boy asked, raising his eyebrow slightly. Cooro just nodded.

"Yep, I gave the bear to Senri. The guy in the picture I showed you, and now I'm giving Nana the bat," Cooro explained. Husky just nodded, seeming to faze out at the mention of the picture and Senri. Nana took the paper figure and examined it in her hand.

"Thanks. A bat, huh?" She asked, pulling slightly at one of the wings. Cooro nodded happily.

"Yeah, I made myself a crow, and I gave my friend Senri a bear, and Husky a fish," He told her. The silver boy seemed to come out of his little trance at the mention of his name, looking confused for a second before the words fully processed in his head.

"Yeah, I still don't get how I remind you of a fish," Husky finally said, shifting the books in his arms a bit.

"Because, you just do Husky! I mean, you're so shinny," Cooro laughed. "Ow! Don't hit me with a book!" The black haired boy now yelled, which only caused Husky to turn away in an angry huff. Nana simply looked on amused.

"I am not _shinny!" _The skinny boy nearly pouted, right as the bell to class began to ring out. Cooro quickly forgot that he was supposed to be hurt, and was smiling again.

"Well, we better get going. Bye Nana, c'mon Shinny. Ow!" the black haired boy covered his head as he began walking in the direction of their class, Husky following behind angrily. Nana waved half-heartedly as the two left, still staring at the paper bat in her hand.

Once Cooro reached the classroom he just stood in the doorway. It was even more chaotic than usual. Husky stood behind him, tapping his foot impatiently. His stupid books were getting heavy. "Cooro what's…Whoa, what's gotten into everybody today?" Husky asked, peaking over his friend's shoulder at the growing mess. Cooro looked over at the teacher's desk and smiled a bit. Of course, that explained it.

"Substitute," was all the older boy said as he walked over to where someone had knocked over his desk and began to put it right side up again. Husky quickly followed him, trying to avoid the other kids as much as possible. Cooro nearly laughed, he was practically clinging to the back of his shirt. He probably would be if he didn't have all those books in his hands. Well, it was pretty obvious that the silver boy didn't like crowds or chaos in the least, and the classroom was well, very crowded and very chaotic.

Cooro looked over to the substitute. Poor guy. He looked even more frazzled than Ms. Brighton usually did. "We should help him," Cooro heard Husky mumble at his side. The black haired boy nodded and walked up to the teacher's desk. Grabbing the whistle that was sticking out from under some papers and blew as hard as he could.

The classroom froze as the ringing pierced the air. Taking the whistle away from his lips, Cooro smiled brightly at the sub. "There ya go!" he said happily, putting the whistle into the teacher's hand.

"A-alright class. T-take your seats,' The young man stammered to the now silent room. There was a loud groan from most of the students as desks were pushed back into place, as well as several glares directed at Cooro.

Sitting down next to Husky the black haired boy flashed him a smile, who just sighed and looked down at his desk. "Well, that'll work," Cooro could just hear his friend mumble, and had to restrain himself from laughing.

Once he had the class under control, the sub actually did a fairly good job at keeping it that way. When the bell for lunch rang out Cooro wondered if he would be able to get the class back under his control without any help when they came back. Many had failed very horribly with that, and it was only October.

Cooro waited patiently next to Husky's locker as the skinny boy tried to pull out his lunch without causing an avalanche. Cooro noticed that Husky was pretty disorganized, well either that or extremely clumsy. Probably the second one, actually.

"Hey!" Cooro was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of an all too familiar voice. "What was the bright idea, blowing that whistle?" Tyler yelled. The tall boy stood next to Selim, and Joe was on the rich boy's other side. Husky was right, Tyler and Joe were just cronies, but they were scary cronies.

"What's the matter? He hurt your ears? Oh boo hoo, just be glad Cooro calmed those animals down before some other teacher got tired of the noise and called the principal," Cooro blinked and turned towards Husky. He was standing now, his lunch still trapped under the pile of books, and he looked angry. His fist were clenched and he was glaring daggers. Cooro must say he was impressed, despite his small size, Husky could be quite intimidating.

"I wouldn't get so cocky, that girl ain't here to save ya this time," Joe threatened, taking a step towards the two boys. Cooro looked around, they were the only ones left in the hallway. He wasn't sure what he had meant by a girl coming to save them, even if he had a pretty good idea, but he knew that he was right about no one coming to save them.

"Husky," Cooro whispered, pulling at the other boy's sleeve. He had never liked fighting, he always just tried to run away. It didn't look like Husky had the same idea, though. Cooro briefly wondered if Husky got into a lot of fights at his old school. It wasn't a very hard thing to imagine.

"Call off your goons," Husky growled, completely ignoring the two boys closing in and speaking straight to Selim. The rich prick just smirked, as if to say not a chance.

Joe attacked first, but wasn't fast enough. Husky jumped behind his locker, slamming it in the other boy's face. "Run!" Husky yelled, and Cooro did not need to be told twice. Luckily for them, they were faster than the others, and were able to reach the cafeteria without being caught.

Panting Cooro laughed a bit at Husky's still tense stance. "S'okay, they never do anything when other people are around. They're too scared to," Husky just nodded, plopping down in his usual seat. Cooro quickly followed suit.

"Want some?" Cooro asked, offering Husky half of his sandwich. The other boy's lunch was still trapped under a pile of books in his locker after all. Husky was not having a very good Monday. He just nodded and took the half.

"So, what did Joe mean by that girl's not here to save you now?" Cooro asked, trying not to laugh at the way Husky's head shot up.

"N-nothing! I don't know. Nana had pulled me away from them last time they tried to mess with me, saying her locker was stuck. She didn't _save _me! She was just being annoying!" Husky yelled, crossing his arms and turning away afterwards. The black haired boy was finding it very hard not to laugh. He knew they were friends, even if neither Husky nor Nana had even realized it yet.

Soon lunch ended, and then school as a whole. The sub did a decent job keeping the class under control when they had gotten back from lunch. Cooro thought it looked like he was getting his confidence up a bit, although he hadn't been able to finish his sentence once the bell rang. Ah well, Ms. Brighton never could either.

Walking home Cooro couldn't help but think it was a little strange without Keane there. He would usually talk to Cooro more then Husky did. He reminded himself to tell Husky to wish Keane well for him.

Turning a corner Cooro smiled. He wanted Husky to meet Senri! Waving, Cooro ran up to the older boy. "Hi Senri! I want you to meet someone," the black haired boy called, glancing behind to make sure Husky was still following. He was, although he had a strange look on his face.

"It's the guy in the picture," he heard Husky mumble, finally stopping besides him. Cooro nodded.

"Yep, Husky, this is Senri, Senri, this is my friend, Husky," the hyper child introduced the two. Senri nodded and put his hand out, which Husky hesitantly shook.

The three talked for a bit. Well, Cooro talked for a but. Husky was pretty quiet, and Cooro would have been more surprised if Senri had started talking.

"Well, we better get going. Bye Senri, c'mon Husky," the black haired boy said, starting to head towards his home. Husky followed closely, not really bothering to say goodbye. The teen nodded and turned to leave, taking one last glance at Husky beforehand.

The two were pretty quiet the rest of the way. "Well, bye Husky. Tell Keane I said get well soon," Cooro said once they reached the church. The silver boy blinked, pulling himself out of his thoughts.

"Huh, oh right. I will, bye," he said, giving Cooro a half wave before starting towards his house. The older boy smiled as he headed up the stairs. He hoped Husky and Senri could be friends, even if they acted a bit strange around each other.

* * *

Well, here it is. A little late, was really busy this week. I feel like not too much happened too. But don't worry, not the next chapter, but chapter 11 is when it starts to get **real**. *if you get the reference, I don't actually like degrassi…*

Well, please review.


	10. Chapter 10

Why hello there. Sorry for the delay on this one, was slightly wrapped up in some very important matters ** but either way, here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy.

Don't one +anima or either of the books I mention in this chapter, The Hunt for the Seventh, or Lord of the Flies.

Chapter 10

The rest of the week passed with relative normality. Keane came back to school on Wednesday and Cooro and Husky were able to avoid Selim and his cronies. Husky was actually in a good mood when he came home Friday afternoon.

Husky wasn't one to get after school snakes, but he was hungry today, and Cooro had talked about apples the entire way home, making the silver boy crave one. Closing the fridge with an apple in hand, he froze. Looking away from the calendar in front of him, Husky sighed. He hadn't realized the date.

Had it really been two months? It seemed like so much longer, and yet just yesterday at the same time. Husky had to admit that things were getting better though, as long as he didn't think about it. Sure, he still saw his dad about as much as the guy next door (Keane said he owned, like, fifty swords or something, but he was probably just exaggerating) and Dylana still radiated pure hatred towards him, but those things didn't really matter. He had never seen his dad growing up anyway, it wasn't like they were ever close, and he was getting very good at avoiding Dylana.

School was his real escape. Sure there was that whole problem with Selim, but it was nothing that he couldn't handle. At school, there were three people that actually seemed to care about him, which was two more then at home. There was one person who seemed to care about him, who was at both home and school, and that was Keane. It was still strange, but Husky was starting to get used to Keane being civilized to him.

The other two were Cooro, obviously. Husky never had a best friend before, but if he did it would probably be the energetic black haired boy. The other person, whether he wanted to admit it or not, was Nana. Sure, she was a stupid, annoying girl, but she was the only other kid in his grade besides Cooro who actually gave him the time of day. Well, without trying to beat him up, at least not physically. She had also helped him get out of that situation with Selim and his cronies when Cooro had been sick that one time.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, Husky headed towards his room. He passed Dylana on the way and could feel the daggers she was glaring into his back. What was her problem? He wished she would just yell at him or something and get whatever it was out of her system already.

Sitting down at his desk Husky tried to take his homework out of his book bag while simultaneously not dropping his apple. He wanted to start it, seeing as they had a decent size report due on Monday about ancient Egypt. It was easy, but Husky felt they sugar coated things way too much. Personally Husky thought they should be studying ancient Sumar. After all, if you were going to study human history, shouldn't you start at the beginning?

'Hey, dinner," Keane said, poking his head into the door, as usual. It was around 5 o'clock and the ginger looked half asleep to Husky.

"Okay," Husky said, standing up and pushing his chair in. He made sure to grab his apple core on the way out. He didn't like leaving a mess just lying around, especially one that could and would rot.

Dinner was extremely quiet and akward, even more the usual. The man of the house wasn't there, big surprise, and whenever Keane tried to make conversation, it just kind of died away. There was a strange, negative feeling in the air, and Husky felt that if he tried to talk, Dylana would throw a fork at him or something.

The tense dinner's end couldn't of come any sooner to Husky, or even Keane for that matter. The older boy had been awkwardly mumbling, mainly to himself, about anything that came to his head the entire time. Husky noticed that Keane didn't do well with silence, often trying to fill it with talking if he could.

Once back in his room Husky wasn't really sure what to do for the rest of the night. He wasn't tired, and he didn't feel like doing anymore homework. He figured he should probably get some hobbies or something besides school and sleeping.

The silver boy ended up playing solitaire for a while, but gave up after not being able to remember what went on a black queen.

It was around 7:20 when Keane walked into his room. "Hey," Husky mumbled, not looking up as he placed another card on the top of a large, triangle shaped house.

"Hey, um, nice card house," Keane shifted from foot to foot, looking rather uncomfortable. Husky sighed.

"What is it?" He asked bluntly, still not looking up from his house of cards. It was a strange habit he had, he didn't really make eye contact with anyone when in his house, if he could help it. He would make eye contact with Keane perfectly fine when they were walking to school, or someplace like that, just, not at home.

"Um, do you know what was wrong with mom during dinner? I mean, she seemed pretty mad," Keane finally asked. Now Husky looked up. Why would he know what was wrong with her?

"Dylana? Not a clue. She's always angry around me anyway, I didn't notice much of a difference," Husky said, looking back at his ever-growing house of cards when done. Of course, he had noticed a difference with the red headed woman, but it wasn't his problem.

"Oh… Alright, I was just wondering. Thanks," Keane mumbled, turning to leave. Husky just nodded slightly.

"Kay, see ya," The silver boy managed to say before the door shut completely. Husky stopped building his house, and simply stared. He had never noticed how, well, flaky Keane was. Before Husky had come to live with them, Keane had always seemed like a pretty natural leader. He acted quick, and could easily get people to fallow him, especially when it came to things like getting a bunch of kids to pick on him. It was so different seeing him at home, though. Husky just shook his head, looks like he wasn't the only person who changed when entering this house.

The next morning Husky woke up, not extremely excited about going downstairs. Keane had been right about Dylana seeming 'pretty mad' at dinner the night before, and Husky wasn't thrilled with the possibility of crossing paths with the woman. Finally, his hunger got the better of him, and he left his room.

Once downstairs he made himself a bagel. While eating the silver boy tried to think of what to do today. He could finish his report on Egypt. Cooro had shown him where the bookstore was, it had been one of the only places that had piped his interest. Maybe he would head there.

Putting his plate and cup in the sink, Husky felt someone watching him from the doorway. It was Dylana, and she was staring right at him. Shifting his gaze to the floor, Husky walked passed her and ran up the stairs to his room as fast as he could without it looking like he was running from her, which he was.

Once in his room, he locked the door behind him. That was just scary. It wasn't that she'd been glaring at him, or holding a knife or anything. The opposite really. She had been smiling. Repeat, Dylana had been smiling, at him! Husky was pretty sure he'd never even seen her smiling at Keane! Why would she smile at him? She hated him!

Shaking himself slightly, Husky decided that he was going to go to that bookstore. Grabbing a few bills and his coat, the skinny boy headed out.

He had spent several hours at the bookstore and ended up buying two books. The Hunt for the Seventh and Lord of the Flies. The cashier lady had looked at him a bit strangely when she rung up Lord of the Flies, but Husky didn't really care. He had heard the book was good, and wanted to read it.

Once home he ran straight up to his room, making sure to avoid Dylana on the way there. Placing The Hunt for the Seventh down on his nightstand, husky cracked open Lord of the Flies.

For some reason they had gotten take out for dinner, so Husky was able to stay holed up in his room for the entire night, reading. The only time he had to see Dylana was when she handed him his plate, which she had made for him for some reason. Husky contemplated eating it, fearing it could be poisoned, but then chuckled to himself at the thought. Dylana was mean, yes, but a killer? He hadn't done anything to make her that pissed.

He liked Lord of the Flies so far. He had just gotten to the part where the boy, Simon, was killed like a pig. Yeah, yeah, not the happiest book in the world, and his mom probably wouldn't of liked him reading it at such a young age, but it was good. Almost all the books for the kids were too sugary and sweet, not to mention easy.

Putting the book down on his nightstand, the silver boy yawned and pulled his covers up around him. Reading always made him tired, and it was almost nine anyway. Actually, he had been having trouble keeping his eyes open since dinner. He wasn't really paying much attention to it, though. He had been reading all day, of course his eyes would hurt a bit. He briefly thought that he should probably change out of his day clothes and put some pajamas on, but he was just so tired. Soon, Husky was completely unaware of the world around him, completely asleep.

Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Ling-Line

Okie-dokie, here it is. Sorry it's a bit short. Also sorry for the Lord of the Flies spoiler. I'll try to have the next chapter up soon, until then, review.


	11. Chapter 11

Hello. Moofy here. Well, can't think of a single thing I need to say, so here's the chapter.

Disclaimer: don't own +anima, shocker…

Chapter 11

Husky knew he had to be dreaming, and that's what scared him. He never realized he was dreaming until after he woke up, so why was this time different? It just had to be a dream, though, because why would this happen in real life?

He could feel the water all around him, and he couldn't breath, because the water was inside him, too. He was used to that in the dream, but that's all he was used to, everything else felt different. His eyes were closed, and he couldn't move. Something was holding him down, which had never happened in his dream, well, more like nightmare, before. He was being held agents something as well, something hard and cold and flat. He couldn't think of what it was, although it was hard to think of anything at the moment, his mind was so foggy.

A single thought was able to make it into his mind. He had to open his eyes. The dream always ended after he saw the fish, so it he opened his eyes and saw the fish, all this would be over.

He almost wished he had kept them closed. All his struggling increased tenfold, although it still didn't seem to be enough, in his weakened state. There was no fish, no murky waters of a lake. No, what there were was the clear water and tiles. He knew he must be in a bathroom. The worst thing though, was that the thing holding him down, making it impossible to breath, was Dylana.

This wasn't a dream! It wasn't a dream! He was going to die! He didn't want to die! Husky felt his neck burning. Was it from the lack of oxygen? He didn't know, and frankly, he really didn't care.

He could feel himself fading, his vision becoming blurrier and blurrier. No! He didn't want to die like this! He didn't want the last thing he ever saw to be Dylana glaring at him. He wanted to scream out for someone to come help him, anyone. You can't talk underwater, though, and if he opened his mouth the water would rush in and his struggling would stop even sooner. It couldn't end like this, it just couldn't!

Keane's mind was a blank. He woke up, having to go to the bathroom. When he was outside of the door, though, he heard splashing. It sounded like someone was struggling in the bathtub. Too tired to remember to knock or calling out, he simply walked in.

He really couldn't process what he was seeing. He just opened and closed his mouth, like a dieing fish. A dieing fish. A dieing… dieing…water. Dieing. Water. Husky. Myrrah! Myrrah was dying in the water!

"Myrrah!" Keane yelled, shutting out everything else, like exactly who was holding him under the water in the first place.

Husky felt the pressure holding him down stop, and shot up like a bullet. He started coughing like crazy, trying desperately to replace the water in his lungs with air. His head was spinning and he couldn't see straight, but he didn't care. He had to get out of there, before Dylana tried something else.

He wasn't sure how he got up to begin with, but soon he had fallen over the side of the tub. He kept on moving though, running solely on adrenalin. Not even glancing at Dylana, he bolted out the door, pushing whatever was in his way to the side. All he saw was red when he did it, his vision still wasn't working right for him, but it might have been Keane.

Running as fast as he could he didn't know or care where he was going, he was just going. He was out of his house in less then half a minute. He didn't think, he just ran and ran and ran, until he had no idea where he was and couldn't run anymore.

He was in some ally, he didn't know where though. The adrenalin was running out and the skinny boy sunk to his knees. He was exhausted and cold and scared. Shaking violently, he started crying, for the first time since his mother died, and the second time in memory.

He had no idea how long he stayed like that, although he would of fallen asleep there, if not for a man walking into the ally bringing a bit of sense back into him. He was barely able to stop the tears as he just stared up at the man, too exhausted to move.

"Ain't it a little past your bedtime, kiddie?" the man asked, a smirk on his dirty face. His clothes were even dirtier, filled with holes, and his hair was scraggly and ragged. Husky just nodded. His mind was telling him to get up and run away, but he was too worn out, both physically and emotionally. It was taking everything he had to keep himself from passing out then and there.

"Ya lost?" The man asked. Husky managed to shake his head no. He you to be going somewhere to be lost, and he had no where to go anymore.

The man was leaning in front of him now. Husky scooted away from him a bit, not wanting to be close to this guy. Even with his mind as muddy as it was, he could still smell the alcohol on him. He was drunk.

"Those some pretty earrings ya got there, girly," Husky backed away even more. Under any other circumstance, he would of exploded at being called a girl, but he was too distraught and tired to. It did manage to perk his attention, if just a little bit. He wasn't about to lose his mother's earring, and who knows what else.

"G-go away," Husky barely managed to whisper, still scooting away from the drunk. He had never heard himself sound so weak. The man kept coming towards him. Husky felt his eyes begin to water again. Not now. He gasped, but even that was weak, when his back ran up agent a brick wall.

The man's smirk widened and his eyes seemed to light up. The water started spilling from his eyes, and the skinny boy had to shake his head to get it to stop. Crying wasn't going to help him now. The man was coming so slowly, almost like he was savoring it. It made Husky shudder.

There had to be some way out. Husky began feeling around the ground for something, anything, he could use as a weapon. He hand clenched around a wooden board. He wasn't sure if it would work. He felt like he couldn't swing his arm, let alone a plank of wood, but it was his only shot. He just had to wait for the man to come a little closer.

"Gah! You little brat!" The man screeched, clutching his side. Husky dropped the board and ran, still amazed he had actually had the strength to swing. He could hear the man chasing him, though, and knew it was only a matter of time before he was caught.

It seemed like that would be sooner then he hoped for though, as he tripped over a large crack in the sidewalk. He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing the man would be on his before he was able to get up. Whatever Husky had been anticipating never came, though. Opening his eyes, he pushed himself off the sidewalk and hesitantly looked behind him.

The man was fighting someone. Husky couldn't see who though, it was too dark to make out anything. The silver boy just sat on the cold ground unable to move, and stared at the fight. The new arrival, who Husky hadn't been able to see, moved into the glow of the streetlight.

Husky's eyes widened. It was the boy in Cooro's picture, Senri. It wasn't that which really shocked him, though. It was his arm. It was just like it had been in the picture. Everything was the same as the picture, except for clothes. Fur and claws covered his right arm, which was out in front of his. He looked ready to fight.

Husky stared shaking his head. This was just too much! He was wet and cold and scared and hurt! He just couldn't take anymore! He could literally feel the blood rushing from his head as everything went black. Before he even knew it, he was slumped on the sidewalk, out cold.

Senri watched the man he had been fighting run away in fear. He glanced down at his right arm. He couldn't explain it, and could remember even less, but it was useful, to say the least.

Turning his working eye off his arm, he looked at the small figure lying on the ground. Kneeling down next to hi, he lifted the boy up easily. He was extremely light, but his clothes were soaked, and he was shivering. Senri wasn't quite sure what to do. He had no idea where to take him, but he recognized him from somewhere.

"Cooro…" That was right, this boy had been with Cooro. That's where he could take him. Glancing at his arm one last time to make sure it had returned to normal, the teen began to head in the direction he knew the happy little boy lived.

"Hello?" An old nun asked, sounding very tired, as she cracked open the large church doors.

"Cooro…" Senri didn't exactly have a way with words. The old nun stared at the two in shock, before ushering them in, her eyes never leaving the limp boy in Senri's arms.

"Lay him down here," the nun ordered, placing a decorative pillow on one of the pews. "What happened?" She asked. She had met Senri a few times before, and knew he was a friend of Cooro's, so she wasn't really worried about having him come into the church in the middle of the night.

"Hurt, knows Cooro," Senri said. He was a little bit puzzled, it was very unlikely for him to remember where he met the boy lying in front of him. They had just met once, so he remembered, and it was for such a small time, nothing had really happened, but remember him he did.

"I'll go get Cooro," She said quickly before rushing away. Senri hoped the boy would wake up soon, he didn't look too good. Maybe he should of taken him to a hospital, but he didn't know where any were.

"Hmm? Mother Superior? What time is it? Why'd I need to come down 'ere?" Senri could hear Cooro's groggy voice coming towards them. "Huh? Senri? What cha doing here?" Cooro asked, rubbing his eyes as if to make sure what he was seeing was real and not some strange dream.

"Cooro," The nun, Mother Superior as Cooro called her, started, but was cut off when Cooro gasped loudly.

"Husky!" Cooro yelled before running over to the two boys. "What happened to Husky Senri? Why's he asleep? Did something bad happen? Hey, Husky, wake up!" Cooro asked franticly, beginning to shake Husky.

"Cooro, stop. We don't know what happened, you could hurt him more," Mother superior told him sternly. Cooro let go of the unconscious boy almost immediately. He turned to Senri, about to ask him what happened again, when he heard a small groan coming from the pew.

"Husky!" Cooro yelled once again, seeing his friend begin to shift on the hard wooden bench. He opened his mouth, then closed it again and began rubbing his eyes.

"Urg, ow. Wha… What happened?" Husky mumbled, still rubbing his eyes. Cooro though he sounded really horse and weak. He'd never heard him sound like that before, it was strange. Before anyone could answer his question though, Husky opened his eyes and pushed himself into a sitting position. He started scanning the room, but stopped when his eyes landed on Cooro. Squinting, Husky stared at his friend, and then began rubbing his eyes, a look of utter confusion on his face.

"What the? Cooro? Urg, what the hell? What happened? Why am I so sore? And where the hell am I?" Husky asked, sounding more annoyed then anything, and kept rubbing his eyes and staring at Cooro as if he though it was a mirage or something.

"We don't know Husky. Senri just brought you here. Why are you all wet? Did something bad happen?" Cooro asked. Husky's face scrunched up in confusion, and he looked at his clothes. They were all wet. Suddenly his eyes widened, and the silver boy's body went ridged. "Husky?" Cooro yelled, not very concerned as his friend was close to hyperventilating. "Husky? What's wrong? Tell us what happened," Cooro asked, grabbing his shoulder in an attempt to both calm him and keep him upright. It worked a bit, the silver boy's breathing evened out a great deal, although he still looked extremely distressed.

"I… She.. water. I don't know. I just…" Husky mumbled out, not really making much sense.

"Do you want me to call the police? Or take you to a hospital?" Mother superior asked, making her presence known to Husky for the first time. The skinny boy shook his head repeatedly though.

"N-no! I'm fine! I just… something happened. I was outside, and Senri saved me from some guy… I think it was Senri… a bear? What? No, um, after that I just fainted, it's fine," Husky tried to explain, obviously leaving quite a few things out, but the old nun simply nodded.

"Alright. Would you like me to set a bed in Cooro's room?" She asked. Husky just nodded. "You may stay as well," She said to Senri before leaving to go make the beds.

"Husky! Tell me what happened, are you really okay?" Cooro asked the second Mother Superior had left the room. Husky nodded.

"I'm f-fine, really. Just a little s-shaken up, and exhausted, but I'm fine," Husky said, trying to both reassure Cooro and avoid any further questions at the same time. Cooro wasn't about going to let up, though.

"Alright, but what happened? Why were you outside so late? Did something happen at your house?" Cooro asked, staying persistent. "C'mon Husky. I wont tell anyone, promise! Unless if I don't tell someone, you'll die or something," He pleaded.

"Urg, you're so annoying sometimes. Look, I just… I kind of, I don't know… I ran away… Dylana, I can't… be around her anymore," Husky mumbled. Cooro nodded, glad Husky finally told him something, not everything obviously, but something.

"Okay, don't worry Husky. I wont make you go home or anything, but…um, who's Dylana?" Cooro asked, scratching the back of his head. He had never heard Husky mention anyone with that name before.

"Huh? Oh, she, uh, she's Keane's mom. We, well, we don't get along. It's cause I look like my mom, or something. I don't know," Husky explained. Cooro just nodded. So Husky and Keane had the same dad. He wondered what had happened to Husky's mom. He must have been living with her before he moved in with Keane. He wasn't about to ask Husky now though, he was still so shaky…

"Oh! Husky! You're probably freezing! I'll go get out some dry clothes. Senri, stay here with him," Cooro exclaimed, quickly running out of the room before Husky had any time to protest.

Husky glanced over at the other boy nervously. He was staring at him with a peculiar look on his face. Husky suddenly remembered what he had saw right before he had apparently passed out, and without warning it was very hard to keep his breathing even again.

"Calm, s'alright," Senri said, reaching out a hand to try and calm the younger boy. It seemed to have the opposite effect on him, however, as the silver boy shot away from him like a bullet.

"No!" I-I mean, n-no. It's alright. I-I'm fine!" Husky stuttered, now standing. His eyes didn't leave the older boy's arm the entire time.

"Husky, is it a good idea for you to be standing?" Cooro asked once he came walking in, clothes in his hands. It nearly made Husky jump a foot in the air, although the black haired boy didn't seem to notice. "Well, now that you are, put these on. They should fit, although anything would be better then what you're wearing now," Cooro handed him the pajamas and showed him to where the bathroom was. About a minute later Husky came out, the wet clothes in his hands.

"You can just leave those in the hamper. C'mon, your tired right? I'll show you my room, Senri's already up there," Cooro said happily, beginning to pull Husky along.

Once in Cooro's room Husky laid down on a sleeping bag. Cooro had offered him the bed, several times in fact, but Husky refused. Cooro was wrong though. He was more then just tired, he was exhausted.

"You sure you're okay, Husky?" Cooro asked one more time. The silver boy nodded, already half asleep. It was amazing how good dry clothes and a sleeping bag felt after a night of nothing but cold, sopping wet clothes and either concrete or a hard wooden church bench.

"Um-hmm," Husky mumbled. He wanted to ask Cooro about the bear claw he had drawn on Senri, but he was too tired to. Besides, that Senri guy had saved him, he seemed like a nice person, if not a little quiet. Kind of unnerving. He had probably just been hallucinating or something.

Besides, that was the least of his problems right now. He had no idea what he was going to do in the morning, or where he would go. He didn't want to think about that right now, though, he just wanted to sleep. So that's what he did.

Line-Line-Line-Ling-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line

Hurray! Longest chapter so far! Hope Husky didn't seem too out of character in this chapter, but I mean, the little tranny isn't all strong all the time. Well, please review.


	12. Chapter 12

Hiya. Sorry for the delay in writing this. Finally got started on my summer work, even if just barely. Actually, I really need to get on that, instead of this. Well, you all see how well that's worked out. Here's the next chapter.

Disclaimer- I do not own +anima

Chapter 12

All Nana could do was stare. The boy in front of her was a mess, there was no other word for it, besides maybe a wreck. It was rather cold out, but he wasn't wearing a coat, he wasn't even wearing long sleeves. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, his curly red hair was in tangles, and he was only wearing one shoe.

"…What?" Nana asked finally, not understanding a word the boy in front of her had said, he had spoke so fast.

"Y-you're a friend o-of M-myrrah, right?" The ginger panted. He had definitely been running from wherever he had come from.

"Who?" Nana asked again. This guy must have the wrong person.

"Myrrah, I-I've seen you with him before," The boy insisted. Nana was confused. She didn't know anyone named Myrrah, in fact when he said the name she had thought it was a girl. She didn't even know the kid in front of her, either. Did he go to her school?

"I don't think so," She said slowly, but the ginger just shook his head.

"No, I know you know him. Please, do you know where he is?" He asked, sounding desperate. Sighing, she figured she could at least try to help, whatever it was to make this Myrrah guy go missing sounded bad.

"Well, what's he look like?" She asked. Truthfully, Nana hoped she didn't know him. She wasn't really in the mood to get wrapped up in whatever this was.

"He's skinny and pale and's got silver hair and he's always wearing these sapphire earrings," The boy rambled. Nana winced, she knew who he was talking about.

"You mean Husky? Why are you looking for him? And why are you calling his Myrrah? Who are you?" Nana questioned rather quickly. This kid was just too weird, but know that she knew who he was talking about, she was worried.

"Yes! Him! Husky's only his nickname, his real name is Myrrah. You didn't know that? I just need to find him fast. I'm Keane, his brother. Have you seen him?" Keane asked, suddenly sounding very excited.

"I haven't seen him." Pausing, Nana looked Keane up and down once again, "His brother? Sorry, but you two look nothing alike," She said, sounding a bit skeptical, which she was. She would know if Husky had a brother, right? Well, apparently she didn't even know his real name, so maybe not.

"We're half-brothers, but that doesn't matter. Do you have any idea where he might be? Any at all?" Keane asked, starting to sound desperate again. Nana thought for a bit. She didn't really have any idea on where Husky might be, but she did have an idea on who he might be with.

"Well, he could be with Cooro, you know him? They're always together, but, um, what happened, exactly?" She wondered if Husky had run away or something. Whatever it was, it seemed to mess up this Keane kid bad enough that he not only forgot what season it was, but also that he had two feet, not one.

"You're right! Thanks girl, bye!" Keane yelled enthusiastically, running off. Nana just stood there in shock for a few seconds, but that shock soon turned quickly over to anger. What, did all the boys in Husky's family have to call her 'girl'? Not only that, but he completely blew off her other question!

"Hey! Wait up!" Nana yelled, running after him. He had gotten her involved now, and she wasn't going to leave him alone until she knew what was going on. It would be nice to know if Husky was alright too, she guessed.

The two children stood outside of a church. Nana was panting. Dang, it was hard keeping up with his Keane kid. For someone with one shoe on, he ran fast. "Why are we at a church, I thought you were going to look for Cooro?" Nana asked in between huffs. Keane glanced back at her, looking confused.

"You're still here? I am, he lives here, I think" Keane explained, heading up the stone steps. Nana quickly followed him.

"Really, why?" She asked. A church sure was a strange place to live. Keane nodded.

"I donno, but he comes in and out of it everyday," The just reached the top of the steps. Keane wasn't sure if he should knock, or just come in. It was Sunday, so a service might be going on, but it was noon, so it was kind of late. Keane still couldn't believe he hadn't thought of coming here before. Drawing a deep breath, he knocked on the huge oak door.

"Coming!" Keane and Nana glanced at each other. They both recognized that voice. The door opened, revealing a happy looking black haired boy. "Huh? Keane? Nana? What are you two doing here?" Cooro asked, seeming especially confused when he saw Nana. He started looking Keane up and down, probably thinking the same thing Nana had thought when she first saw him, only without the slight fear because he was a complete stranger.

"Cooro! Have you seen Myrrah? Is he here?" Keane asked, back in frantic mode. Cooro's face fell, and he suddenly looked the most serious either of the two on the stone steps had ever seen him.

"Why?" The ebony haired boy asked. It was obvious he knew something about Husky, but for whatever reason, he wasn't going to just take them to him.

"He ran away last night! I've been looking everywhere for him, but didn't think to look here until this girl reminded me. Is he here? He's okay, right? He's not hurt or anything, is he?" Keane explained, almost in full on panic mode. Nana was surprised at how calm Cooro appeared. She was starting to get really worried about the little jerk, but she figured Cooro already knew what was going on, at least more then her.

"He's okay, just exhausted and scared. He's still asleep," Cooro said, motioning for them to come in. The relief seemed to nearly radiate off of Keane as he basically ran inside. Nana followed more slowly, looking around at the small church as she did. It was exactly how you would expect a church to look like. There was no one inside, though, but Nana figured that most people had come earlier. Cooro sat down at one of the pews, and motioned for them to join him. It was probably mostly for Keane, but Nana wasn't going to leave now.

"So you're sure he's okay?" Keane asked again. He was way less frantic then before, but still seemed deeply concerned about his little brother.

"Yeah, he's fine. He was unconscious when my friend Senri brought him here, but he seemed okay when he woke up, just shaken up pretty bad. He wouldn't tell me what happened though, just that he ran away cause he couldn't be around your mom anymore. Also, he was all wet, so Mother Superior said he might catch a cold," Cooro said, summing up the night before. Keane gulped, and wouldn't look either of them in the eye.

"I, uh, that is, my mom, she…" Keane mumbled, squirming in his seat. He seemed pretty upset by whatever he was trying to say.

"Keane?" It was barely a whisper, but it caused all three kids on the pews to snap in it's direction. Husky was standing in the doorway, clinging to the frame for support. He looked tired, like he'd just woke up, but mainly he looked scared. His eyes were wide and his body was ridged. The entire time he just stared at Keane.

"Myrrah, you're alright! I was really worried!" Keane jumped up from his seat. Husky didn't seem to relax, though. In fact, his grip on the doorframe only tightened.

"W-what are you doing here?" Husky asked, his voice as shaky and quiet as it had been the first time. Keane frowned a bit, as if realizing for the first time that something was wrong.

"N-no! No! I can't go back! She'll kill me!" Husky protested, obviously distraught. He was shaking and looked on the verge of tears. Keane and Nana were both frozen in place, but Cooro managed to run up and grab his arm, like he was trying to keep him from falling over.

"It's okay Husky, you don't have to go back there, don't worry. Go back to my room, I'll bring you some breakfast in a minute, okay?" Cooro said, somehow managing to calm the frantic boy. Husky nodded and left without a fight. Cooro sighed and turned back to the two other kids. Nana wasn't too sure if she should stay, but she was way too worried to leave. She'd never seen Husky act anything like that before.

"What did he mean, she'll kill me?" Cooro asked once he was sure Husky was far enough away. Keane instantly looked down, not able to look Cooro in the eyes once again.

"My mom…she, I found her, I mean… she tried to…she tried to drowned Myrrah last night," Keane fumbled. Nana gasped, why would someone do that? Cooro looked less shocked. He looked sad and worried, but not shocked. Almost like he had been expecting it.

"I don't think Husky should go home," Cooro said, although it was kind of stating the obvious. Keane just nodded.

"Y-yeah, I just… I don't know what to do. S-should I go to the police?" Keane asked, his voice starting to crack a bit. Cooro shock his head and let out a low sigh.

"I don't think so, not yet anyway. Let Husky calm down a bit, he's still pretty, well, you know, you saw him," Cooro told him. It seemed to relax the ginger a bit, who just nodded. 'I'm gonna go give Husky some food, I'll be back in a minute," Cooro told the two, who both nodded. "Okay, just stay here," He said before leaving through the same door Husky had gone through a few moments before.

Going up the stairs with an apple and some water, Cooro sighed. He felt so bad for both Husky and Keane. Almost at his room, he saw Senri walking towards him. Oh yeah, he had almost forgotten about Senri, with Keane showing up and everything.

"Hey Senri, you can go get something for lunch if ya want. Oh, and Husky's brother and a girl named Nana are downstairs, you can go see them too," Cooro told the other boy, who silently nodded and started down the stairs.

When Cooro walked into his room he found Husky sitting on his bed, wrapped in a blanket, staring at nothing. "Hey Husky, I brought you an apple and some water. I didn't think you'd be that hungry, but I can go get more if you want," Cooro said, pulling a chair up from his desk and sitting down next to his bed. Husky shook his head and pulled the blanket up higher around him. The black haired boy sighed, he knew it was going to be hard to get him to eat just this small amount.

"Okay, just eat this then. You need to keep your strength up somehow," Cooro told him, holding the apple out. Husky just shook his head, before closing his eyes and backing up until he saw almost agents the wall, keeping the blanket wrapped tightly around him the entire time. Cooro thought he looked like he was one step away from just hiding under the covers completely. The black haired boy sighed, he knew this wasn't going to be easy.

"C'mon Husky, you need to eat," Cooro pleaded. The silver boy did nothing this time, as if he could make Cooro go away if he just ignored him long enough. Cooro sighed again. "Husky, I promise you don't have to ho anywhere. Keane even said you could stay, so please eat."

Husky shook his head. Cooro decided to keep it up, at least he was responding again. "Husky it's just an apple. At least drink the water, you haven't had anything since yesterday," Cooro tried, holding out the water now.

"Can't," Husky mumbled. Cooro blinked in surprise, not having expected for Husky to actually say anything yet. Sure, he was still refusing, but he was talking now, so they had to be going somewhere.

"Why can't you, Husky?" Cooro asked softly. It was strange that Husky had said he couldn't, and not that he just wouldn't. His eyes were still closed tightly, and Cooro almost wasn't able to understand his answer, it was so mumbled.

"Too scared, I'll throw up," Cooro nearly laughed, that wasn't exactly the answer he'd expected.

"Okay then, why don't you try to calm down a bit? You don't have to go home, I promise Dylana wont hurt you," The black haired boy suggested, hoping it would work a second time around. Husky only shook his head again, though.

"Not that," He mumbled through the blanket, now pulled all the way up to his mouth. That came as a surprise, what else could Husky possible be afraid of right now?

"Not that? Then what is it?" Cooro asked. He hoped he kept talking, or else he had to way to help his distraught friend.

"Can't tell you," He mumbled. The black haired boy thought that Husky sounded like a little kid when he talked like that, before realizing that he was a little kid. It was easy to forget with Husky sometimes.

"Why not? I promise I wont tell anyone, not even Keane or the police if you want," Husky shook his head in the negative yet again though, as if that wasn't the problem. Cooro had no idea what could be the problem if that wasn't it, though.

"You'll get scared," Husky whispered, looking like he was trying to shrink down on himself. Cooro blinked, now that, he hadn't been expecting. Why would he get scared? Nothing bad was happening to him.

"C'mon Husky, I promise I wont get scared, just tell me," Cooro pleaded. He prayed that no one would come in wondering what was taking him so long. It would more likely then not reverse any and all progress he had made. Husky finally had his eyes open and was looking at him, as if contemplating telling him.

"Promise you wont get scared?" Husky asked. Cooro had to hold back his grin, he would tell him what was wrong.

"Of course!" Cooro said happily. He wouldn't get scared, he might get worried about Husky, but he already was, so it didn't matter.

"And you wont run away screaming?" The silver boy asked, sounding extremely out of character. Cooro almost laughed, what was Husky about to tell him that made him think that would happen? He was a swamp monster or something?

"Of course not!" the black haired boy nearly giggled. Husky looked down, and Cooro could see his hands moving under the large blanket, moving to pull the fluffy thing away.

Cooro sat where he was, frozen. The smile that had previously been on his face was gone. He looked Husky over, once, twice, three times. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, but no matter what he did, the scene in front of his stayed the same. There was his friend, Husky, but where his legs should be was a sparkling, silver fish tail and fins.

Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line

Oh nose! Cliffhanger! I just noticed that on average, the chapters for this story are a lot longer then for any of my others. Yay? Well, we're finally at the plot, hurray. I hope Husky doesn't seem to ooc in this chapter too, but I figured in a world where anima don't exist, and he just turned into a flippin' mermaid, there'd be some shock.

Well, please review.


	13. Chapter 13

Hello all. So sorry for the long wait. I'm taking an AP art history class next school year, and it's already taking over my life. I just sent in my first assignment, so I'm free at least for a little while. Thanks for your patients.

Chapter 13

Cooro couldn't do anything but stare at his friend. His mouth was open, and he was trying to talk, to say anything, but his voice wouldn't come. Finally Husky pulled the blanket up around him again, hiding the silver scales from view.

"Told you you'd get scared," He mumbled, managing to jerk Cooro out of his thoughts, or rather, lack of thoughts.

"I-I'm not scared, I was just, just surprised is all," The blacked haired boy managed, shaking his head. "But… how?" This only caused Husky to pull the blanket closer to him, closing his eyes once again.

"I-I don't know! I just came up here and I was scared Keane was gonna take me back there, and, and I didn't want to die, and then, I just, I don't know! I just… changed!" Husky attempted to explain to his equally confused friend.

"Can you change back?" Cooro asked. Husky had loosened his death grip on the blanket, and Cooro could now see his neck, which was lined with gills. He was afraid Husky might drowned… or well, suffocate, or something, if they didn't put him in water soon, but judging on what Keane had said happened last night, in water was probably the last place Husky would want to be right now.

"I d-don't know, I think…maybe," Husky mumbled. Suddenly, the covers began to shift slightly, and Cooro saw the gills and scales turn to skin, and what appeared to be a black tattoo.

"I guess that's a yes," Cooro said, relieved. He was staring at the tattoos a bit. They looked familiar somehow, like he had seen something like it before. Husky pushed the covers away again. He was still wearing the clothes Cooro had lent him, and the fish tail and fins were completely gone. The silver boy seemed to visible relax at this fact. After looking himself over one more time, he turned his attention to the still slightly dumbstruck boy in front of him.

"Promise you wont tell anyone?" Husky asked, sounding almost scared. Cooro nodded, and suddenly broke out in his trademark smile.

"Okay, I promise I wont tell anyone you're a mermaid!" Cooro declared happily, although it only caused Husky to grimace.

"Mermaids are girls, I'm not a girl," Husky said as firmly as he could. His voice was still a bit shaky, but it was better. Cooro just kept smiling though, glad that he was able to make Husky act a bit more like himself now.

"Are you a mer-boy then?" The black haired boy asked happily, only to be hit by a pillow, thrown by an irritated Husky.

"I'm not a mer-anything!" Husky grumbled, crossing his arms and glaring at the wall. Now he was really acting like the normal Husky. Cooro suddenly held out the water and apple, causing Husky to look at him confused, apparently having completely forgotten the black haired boy had ever offered him any food.

"Eat it," Cooro demanded. Husky blinked a few times before nodding and taking the fruit and drink wordlessly. "Will you be alright by yourself for a bit? I should probably go make sure everyone else's okay," Cooro asked, and the silver boy nodded.

"I'll be fine," Husky said, before looking down, beginning to play with the covers on Cooro's bed nervously. "I… really don't have to go back?" He asked quietly. Cooro nodded.

"Yep, stay as long as you want. Now make sure you drink all of that water, I'll be right back," Cooro said, leaving after Husky had nodded.

Once out of the room, Cooro slumped agents the nearest wall. To say he didn't see that coming was an understatement. His best friend was part fish for crying out loud. Cooro shook his head and pushing himself away from the wall. If he was freaked out, he could only imagine what Husky was going through right now. Thinking about it a bit though, it was kind of cool, although Cooro wasn't sure if he'd want to be a fish mermaid thing though.

"H-hey, is Myrrah okay?" Cooro looked up. He was in front of the church now, and Keane and Nana were staring at him expectantly. Oh yeah, he had almost forgotten about them for a second, even though they were why he'd come down here in the first place.

"Yeah, he's fine now, just a little shaky still," The black haired boy said, trying to wound as calm as possible. His act seemed to work, because both Keane and Nana appeared to relax a bit. Suddenly, Cooro started looking around the church. "Hey, where's Senri?" He couldn't spot the silent teen anywhere.

"The tall guy? He left a little while ago, when you were upstairs," Nana said. Cooro was pretty sure that was the first thing he'd heard her say since they had came inside. He just nodded in response. That seemed like something Senri would do, just kind of leave.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Cooro asked, not sure about what Keane's next move would be. The kid was in a pretty difficult situation. If only he knew Husky had been turned into a creature from fairy tales, his brain would probably explode.

"I…don't know, I guess Myrrah doesn't really want to talk to me right now, huh?" Keane asked, and Cooro shook his head.

"Sorry, but I don't think he really wants to talk to anyone right now," Cooro knew it was true. Sure, he'd been acting a little bit like his normal self, but he was pretty sure in a situation like that, you either laugh it off and act like it's nothing, or have a complete and utter mental breakdown.

"Yeah, thought so. I guess I should go back home then. Oh and don't worry, I wont tell anyone where Myrrah is, but I should go see how everything is doing back there," Keane said, standing up from the hard pew. Cooro nodded and began to walk the slightly older boy to the door.

"Okay, good luck, and don't worry about Husky, he'll be just fine here," Cooro said, hoping to relax the obviously nervous Keane. The ginger simply nodded slightly before turning away and heading out the large wooden door, starting in the direction of his breaking home.

Once the door was shut Cooro went and collapsed onto the nearest pew he could find. Shaking his head slightly, the black haired boy sighted. Now that Keane was gone, he just had to wait until Husky was starting to feel stable enough to maybe go to the police or something. Maybe in the mean time he could look up some books on magic, or Greek mythology, or anything that could help then figure out Husky's little fishy problem. Wait, were mermaids even from Greek mythology? Or was it Roman? Was there even a difference? Cooro couldn't remember.

"Um, Cooro, are you okay?" The ebony child shot up like a spring. He had completely forgotten that Nana was still in the room!

"Ah! Um, yeah, I just, you know, kinda stressed, with…yeah," Smooth one Cooro, and he was usually so good at acting, too. Nana just nodded, not looking very convinced, not that Cooro expected her to.

"Alright, if you say so. So, uh, is Husky really okay? I mean, I've never seen him act like that before, but you know, I'm not really that close to him or anything, so I guess I wouldn't know, but yeah," Nana rambled. Cooro nodded, relieved she had changed the subject on her own.

"Yeah, he's fine. He's still pretty scared and stuff, but he'll be okay," Cooro told her, his composure now back. At least, he hoped Husky would be okay. Attempted murder was traumatizing enough, but to turn into a creature from legion right afterwards probably made him think he'd completely lost it.

"Alright then, I should probably leave. None of this was really my business to begin with, that kid just stopped me in the street asking if I knew where some Myrrah kid was, I didn't even knew he was talking about Husky at first, or who he was for that matter. So yeah, I don't tell anyone what happened, you want to keep it a secrete right? Right, so I'll just go now, see you at school…maybe. I guess you might not go to school in order to take care of Husky, so yeah. See you at school, maybe," Nana ranted, very quickly and was able to run out of the church before Cooro could even manage to say bye.

The black haired boy just stared at the heavy oak doors. "Wow, Nana sure does talk a lot when she's upset," Cooro said to no one in particular. Shaking his head, he started to head back up to his room, he should go make sure Husky was still alright and hadn't ended up growing antlers or something.

"I'm back," Cooro called, walking into his room. Husky still had the blanket wrapped around himself, but he was no longer clinging onto it like it was his one lifeline to the world, and as far as Cooro could tell, no antlers had begun to grow yet, so, so far, so good. "Keane, Senri and Nana all went home," Cooro informed him friend. Husky just nodded, but then suddenly got a rather confused look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Why was Nana here?" Husky asked, sounding downright dumbfounded, and he looked that way too.

"Oh! Keane saw her when he was looking for you on the street, and knew she knew you, so he asked her where you might be. Then, she followed him all the way here. Don't worry, she promised not to tell anyone what happened, you can trust her," Cooro explained, looking much less confused, although still a little annoyed. That look was wiped off his face rather quickly though, and he lost eye contact with the black haired boy.

"H-hey, Cooro?" Cooro didn't say anything. He had spoken very quietly, and was beginning to pull on the blanket again, probably not a very good sigh. "I, uh, last might… I well, erm, how long have you known Senri?" The silver haired boy mumbled into the blanket. Cooro just blinked. That was an unusual and random question.

"Um, about a year I guess, why?" Cooro asked. Husky just shrugged, but then had to pull the blanket closer around him when it began to fall off in places.

"I don't know, I was just probably just seeing things, cause I was so exhausted most likely," Husky said, although it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself, rather then trying to convince Cooro.

"Just tell me, Husky. I mean, there's no way it can be more shocking then your fishtail, you know?" Cooro tried, but Husky simply shook his head yet again, still refusing to make any kind of eye contact.

"No, it's nothing, just forget it," The silver boy mumbled into the blue cloth. Cooro decided it was probably best to not push him right now, and nodded.

"Alright, but if you ever do feel like telling someone, you know where I'll be, most likely, okay," Cooro said, hoping Husky would eventually tell him what ever was bothering him, especially if it was about Senri. Cooro worried about Senri sometimes, even though he was older then the black haired boy, he just didn't really seem to be all there all the time.

"Alright," Husky said, no longer avoiding eye contact like it was the plague, and releasing his death grip oh his cocoon of a blanket. "Um, you said Keane went home?" The silver boy asked, and Cooro nodded. "How long ago?"

"Only about five or ten minutes ago, why?" Cooro asked. Had Husky really wanted to talk to Keane?

"Is it okay if I call him to bring me some things, just some clothes and stuff, so I don't have to keep wearing yours?" Husky asked, and Cooro nodded.

"Of course it's play, I'll go get the phone," Cooro said and turned to leave, although froze once he reached the doorway. "You might want to wait until you're sure he's home though, he was only wearing one shoe, so I think he might of forgotten to grab his cell phone," Cooro suggested, and Husky could help but smile just a tiny bit.

"Right, he forgets it regularly, so it's almost guaranteed he wouldn't have it now," Husky said.

"Okay, but I'll go get the phone for when you do call him anyway," Cooro said and left the room.

He was back in less then a minute and handed the phone to Husky. "Here ya go, I don't know how long it takes to get to your house from here, so just call whenever you think he'll be able to answer, I guess," Cooro said. Husky took the phone from him and nodded.

"It doesn't really take that long, but I'm going to wait a few more minutes, just to make sure," The silver boy said, and after a few minutes had passed started dialing the needed numbers to contact his brother.

Keane was pacing around his room. He hadn't run into his mother when he'd come home, which was a good thing, because he didn't think he could face her right now, or ever again for that matter. The red head jumped nearly a foot in the air and knocked over his lamp when his cell phone started blasting a cheerful jingle into the otherwise silent room.

"Gah!" Keane yelled, jumping onto his bed and grabbing his phone. He was one of the few people out of his group of friends to have one, most people thought he was still too young. "Hello?" The ginger asked, forgetting to look at the caller id in his haste.

"Um, Keane? It's Husky," Said husky's voice out of the phone's speaker.

"Myrrah! Are you okay? Is something wrong? Are you hurt?" Keane scrambled, immediately getting frantic and assuming the worst had happened. On the other end of the line, Husky made a small face. Keane never called him Myrrah. No one did anymore, except for people calling him down to the office at school and Dylana. He guessed his dad did too, if he ever spoke about him, because they didn't exactly speak to each other.

"I'm fine, everything fine. I was just wondering if you could maybe bring me some of my stuff, like my clothes, and maybe my book bag," Husky explained, and Keane relaxed, beginning to feel a bit dumb for freaking out.

"Oh, o-okay, sure. Is there anything else you want?" Keane asked. The line was quiet for a but, Keane guessed he was thinking it over.

"Um, yeah, there's two books on my nightstand, at least, they should be there. Lord of the Flies and Hunt for the Seventh, could you bring them too?" Husky asked finally. Keane nodded, only to then remember that you couldn't see gestures over the phone.

"Sure, is that all?" The ginger asked once more, trying to make sure that his little brother didn't forget anything important.

"Yeah, that's it, thanks," Husky said. It was strange, he wasn't used to thanking Keane for anything, although if he thought about it so much had changed so suddenly that something as small as this would too shouldn't really surprise him that much.

"No problem, I'll be over in like, half an hour, I guess," Keane said.

"Alright, see you then," Husky said over the phone. Keane put his cell down after he hear the click, and went straight to Myrrah's room. He saw the two books on the nightstand right away and placed them on the bed, as well as some clothes he found in his dresser, and his pajamas. He hadn't been wearing them the night he had…left…weird. Keane just shrugged it off and threw them onto the bed.

Lastly he found his book bag, which the ginger decided to put the two books into. Searching though the closet for a bit he was able to find a duffle bag to place all of the clothes into.

About to leave for the church Keane did once last glance around the room, trying to make sure he didn't miss anything. His eyes landed on the little origami fish on his brother's shelf. Husky had brought it home on the first day of school, hadn't he? It was the one he said Cooro made, right? Shrugging, the ginger snatched the silver fish and placed in the duffle bag along with all the clothes and essentials. Husky seemed to like it, after all. Zipping up both bags, Keane headed out of his house and towards the church, still somehow completely unaware he was wearing only one shoe.

Line-line-line-line-line-line-line-line-line

Voila! It's 4:16 am, but I got it done for you all. Don't you just love how dedicated I am? (trying to distract from anger of delay) Well, please review, for the children!


	14. Chapter 14

Hello. Sorry for the long wait. I could blame that on school work, but truthfully I've just been a little lazy and too busy reading yugioh fan fiction. Sorry. (shifty eyes)

Well, anyway, here's the next chapter.

Chapter 14

"Yeah, thanks again Keane," Husky mumbled to his the red head, who had just turned to leave

"It's fine, like I said before, if you need anything else, anything at all, just call me, okay?" Kean said, still a bit reluctant to leave his half-brother alone. He looked sick, his skin was paler then usual, and he had a large blanket drawn around him. Keane hadn't seen him let go of it even once since he'd come in with the items Husky had asked him for. Not to mention he was speaking in a much quieter and weaker tone then the ginger was used to when dealing with the usually disrespectful boy. Well, except for about a week after he had first moved in, that is.

"Okay, I will," The silver boy mumbled once again. "Um, Keane?" Keane shot up and looked at Husky. He wasn't mumbling anymore and he was no longer smothering himself in the blanket. It still was up all the way to his neck, but at least it no longer covered half of the boy's face.

"Yeah?" Keane asked, looking a bit confused and concerned. Cooro, who had been standing in the corner for most of the time, was watching the two brothers with interest.

"Go home and either take that shoe off, or find it's mate or something, you look ridiculous," Keane simply stared at Husky, completely befuddled, before finally looking down at his feet. Wait… where did his other shoe go? Did he ever put one on?

"Gah! Um, right, shoot, uh, bye Myrrah. Remember, just call me, okay? Cooro, make sure he calls me," Keane stumbled, sounding a bit like a concerned mother once he got over his embarrassment. Cooro just laughed and nodded, then proceeded to show the red head the way out.

When he came back, Husky was still on the bed like he had been all morning, although his grip on the blanket had relaxed considerable. Cooro grabbed the duffle bag off the floor and placed it at the end of the bed.

"Here, ya want to get dressed?" The black haired boy asked. Husky simply nodded, so his friend turned to leave.

"Hey…" Cooro barely heard it, but he still turned around to look at the silver boy. In his hand was something rather familiar to him.

"Hey! It's the origami fish I made you!" Cooro declared happily, skipping back over to the bed, although suddenly a small gasp escaped his lips, and he froze. "The _fish_…" His eyes went from the sparkling paper to meet his friends eyes, the same thought seeming to be running through his mind as well. They both turned to look at the seemingly innocent piece of paper, until Cooro broke the silence by suddenly laughing.

"Wow! Husky, it's like I can see the future or something! Funny, huh?" Cooro said once he finished laughing. Husky just nodded, not appearing to find it very funny, looking almost scared. He placed the fish hesitantly on the small table next to the bed, and coughed like people normally do during an awkward moment.

"W-well, I'm gonna get dressed now," The silver boy said, pulling some random clothing out of the bag. Cooro just nodded at his friend and turned to leave the room like he'd been trying to before they were interrupted by the little fish.

Cooro wandered around the front part of the church absentmindedly. It was Sunday, so mother superior was out working at the local soup kitchen, and no one else in the congregation actually lived in the church. Cooro stopped and stared at the candles burning in multitude in every corner. He had never really liked candles, or fire in general for that matter. He didn't know why, he'd never actually burned himself, and you think living in a church surrounded by candles would make you used to them by now. It was simply one of the things he hated, and one of the even fewer things that had never actually hurt him personally, unlike something like, bees.

Staring at a cluster of small flames, the black haired boy figured it couldn't hurt to put a few out. Grabbing the little cup on a stick, he couldn't remember the official name for it, he began snuffing out a few of the flames at the top, closest to the fabric decorations hanging on the walls above them. You shouldn't burn fire near fabric, especially when there wasn't any adults home.

Reaching a bit higher, the small boy tried to reach the top candle, the one closest to the cloth. Standing on his tip toes, the cup was almost over the candle when Cooro fell forward. He was able to regain his balance and stop himself from falling into the flaming structure, but the stick-cup banged roughly into the top candle, causing the whole thing to wobble unsteadily.

"Ah!" Cooro gasped as the top candle hit the fabric, setting the corner ablaze. Instinctively, the black haired boy reached out to steady the metal structure. His eyes were on the flaming fabric though, so instead of wax or metal, he grabbed fire. "Gah!" he yelled loudly, pulling his hand back and holding it agents his chest, feeling his hate for fire finally justified.

"Cooro? What's going on?" The eleven year old turned around to face the source of the voice. Husky was standing in the doorway leading to the back of the church. He now had a light blue collared shirt on and jeans, and he had a confused, almost concerned look on his face, having ran down after hearing Cooro's scream.

"Fire!" He yelled, pointing with his good hand at the fabric that was slowly being consumed by the flames. The silver haired boy looked completely shocked for about ten seconds, although he soon ran over to where the fire extinguisher was hanging agents a wall. Running back to where Cooro and the fire was, he began spraying in the general direction of the fire. Sure, he was a little short, so he managed to not only stop the fire on the cloth, but put out every single candle, but one stubborn little flame on the sculpture.

"Cooro! What in the world were you _doing!_ You could of gotten us killed! What did you- Hey, are you okay?" Husky asked, stopping in mid-rant, trying to get a better look at the black haired boy's hand. He was holding it rather gingerly, and tears were already starting to form in his brown eyes, although that could have been from the fire and then getting yelled at.

"I b-burned it," Cooro whimpered, showing his friend his right hand. Husky winced. That looked like it hurt. There was a line or skin, shinny and red and smooth, running from the edge of his hand all the way to the center, and already dried wax was coating most of it.

"Ouch, c'mon, where's the kitchen?" Husky asked, beginning to lead Cooro back to the house in the back of the church.

"T-this way," Cooro showed him, still trying to hold back tears. Once in the kitchen, Husky had him hold his hand under cold water before placing some ice on it.

"Not really sure what else to do besides that, never treated a burn before. Where is everybody," Husky asked, sitting at a table as Cooro help the ice to his palm. The black haired boy noticed that his friend was acting like himself again, although it was probably because he had to take care of someone else right now. He had something to distract himself with.

"Mother Superior volunteers at a soup kitchen on Sundays, she'll be back around six I think," Cooro explained, much calmer then he had been a few moments ago. The silver haired boy nodded before getting up and heading over to a drawer.

"Think you'll be okay until then? Hey, you guys have any disinfectant?" He asked. Cooro nodded.

"Yeah I'll be fine. It's in the second drawer," Husky pulled out a spray bottle and walked over to the burned boy, who winced before he'd even gotten there. He always hated that spray, it stung really bad!

"Put out your hand," Husky demanded, not seeming to notice his friend's reluctance, until he shook his head in protest.

"I don't want to!" Cooro wined, although it only caused his friend to sigh, not looking like he was about to give up that easily.

"C'mon, you want it to get infected and then have to get it chopped off at the wrist?" Husky asked impatiently. That caught Cooro's attention, and he reached his hand out hesitantly.

"Fine," the ebony haired boy mumbled, wincing when his hand was sprayed twice. It didn't sting as bad as normal, it wasn't an open wound, but it still hurt a little, although that could just be the burn itself starting to hurt again from being out from under the ice.

"Now put the ice back on," Husky demanded, and Cooro did was he was told, this time without any complaints.

After this the two boys returned to Cooro's room, only coming back down periodically to get more ice once the blocks they had melted. Cooro, seeing as the fire had been a good distraction for Husky, attempted to keep his mind off of anything bad or emotionally scarring. After a few hours of random games, the two were playing go fish.

"Got any sixes?" Husky asked, his voice sounding monotone and bored. This was apparently not his favorite game in the world. Plus he was losing by ten cards.

"Nope, hey Husky," Cooro said. He had a smile on his face. He was trying to keep his friend's mind off of this, but the opportunity was just too perfect.

"What?" He asked, not seeming to get why Cooro seemed all giggling all of a sudden.

"Go fish! Get it? Cause you're a fish, and it's funny cause I told you to go fish? Get it?" Cooro explained, very proud of his new joke. Husky just rolled his eyes, finding it more lame then anything. It didn't have any adverse affects though, like making him all gloomy and smothering himself in a blanket again, so it was still funny to Cooro.

"Whatever you say, feather-brain," Husky grumbled. He wasn't really sure where that nickname/insult had come from, probably the feathers Cooro always wore in his head, but whatever, it fit him somehow.

The sound of the front door to the church suddenly sounded in the room. "Oh my!" Cooro and Husky turned to each other, both hearing the shocked voice from downstairs, and both remembering the mess of extinguisher foam left in the corner by the two boys, completely forgotten, until just now, that is. Dropping their cards the two boys scrambled to get downstairs and explain to what would be the obviously confused nun.

"Um, Cooro, what on earth…?" Mother Superior asked, gesturing haplessly to the mess left by the boys.

"Uh, well, I was trying to put out some of the candles, but accidentally knocked the whole thing, which caused the top candle to hit the cloth, but when I tried to stop the wobbling I grabbed a candle and burnt by hand," the black haired boy paused here and help out his hand, now bandaged up, courtesy of Husky, "and then Husky came down and put it out with the fire extinguisher, but after we fixed my hand we kind of forgot about the mess…" Cooro finished explaining. The old woman just nodded, still looking a bit dumb struck. "Uh, we'll clean it up now," Cooro offered, hoping to pull her out of her stupor.

"No, no! Wait until morning at least, you two must be exhausted after everything that's happened these past few days," The two glanced at each other. Poor old lady didn't know that half of it, although that was probably for the best. "Now Cooro, let me see your hand, and neither of you are going to school tomorrow," The nun announced, beginning to unbandage Cooro's hand.

Once she saw the boys hand was fine, although he'd probably have a nasty little scar there, and fed them dinner, she sent them off to bed. They didn't have to be told twice, both falling asleep almost the instant they laid down.

Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line-Line

Tada! Once again, sorry about the delay. And if any of you are reading my Full Metal Alchemist fan fiction, I promise to have an update for that by the end of the week as well.

Also, I know how Cooro feels, I've burned myself so many times cooking, and it hurts! I still have a bit of a scar from one of them. Well, please review.


	15. Chapter 15

Hello all my faithful readers. Thankfully this chapter came a bit quicker then my last one, and it's a bit longer, so hurray for you.

Disclaimer- Don't own +anima

Chapter 15

"Cooro, you have a visitor!" Mother Superior called up the stairs to said boy's room Monday afternoon. Cooro, who had been lying on his bed, resting after cleaning up the fire extinguisher mess all morning with Husky, sat up.

"Coming!" He called back, sliding off his bed. Before he left he turned to his friend, who'd been sitting in a chair, reading one of the books Keane had brought him. "I'll be right back," The silver boy simply nodded, not looking up from his book.

"Who is it?" Cooro asked, turning the corner at the bottom of the stares. "Oh, hi Nana!" He said happily, seeing exactly who it was standing next to the old nun.

"Hi Cooro, I just came to see how you and Husky were doing, cause you two weren't in school today," The brown haired girl explained. Cooro nodded, knowing it was slightly more then that, as she had unexpectedly been there when he'd found out exactly what had happened from Keane.

"We're fine, Husky's doing a lot better, wanna see him?" The black haired boy asked. Nana nodded and he began leading her up the stairs. He noticed on the way up that she was limping just slightly, and that he right leg was bandaged under her dress. Huh, he'd have to ask her is she was alright next chance he got.

"Husky, guess who's here!" Cooro said excitedly, bouncing into the room. Husky was, as per usual, much calmer then his friend.

"I don't know, Keane? Oh, it's you," The silver boy said, not sounding particularly enthused about the visitor. "Cooro, what's she doing here?" He asked, not bothering to address the now aggravated girl directly.

"Hey, that was rude!" Nana huffed angrily, although she was used to this kind of treatment from him. Truthfully was just glad to see him acting like himself again, and not like she'd seen when he came down to the church the other day.

"C'mon Husky, be nice! She came to see if we were okay," Cooro demanded, purposefully putting the we in there so Husky wouldn't feel like he was being singled out. It was kind of strange that way, they hadn't really known each other all that long, but Cooro already knew most of the strange quirks about his friend's personality. Some of the things he wasn't even sure how he knew, like how Husky hated any extra attention to himself, especially things like being stared at or the like. It was the same with Nana and had been for Senri too. Maybe he was just good at reading people or something?

"Whatever," Husky huffed, turning his attention back on his book.

"See, we're fine!" Cooro announced happily, looking back over to Nana. She nodded, true, they were both acting normal, that was for sure…

"Oh! Cooro, what happened to your hand!" The brown haired girl asked, just now noticing the bandages wrapped around his hand. The eleven year old was confused for about half a second before he realized what she was talking about.

"Ohhh! I burnt it on some candles in the church yesterday, but it's better now. Husky's a really good nurse!" Cooro explained, leaving out the part where he almost burned the entire church to the ground. His last comment caught the reading boy's attention, as he slammed 'Lord of the Flies' down on his legs rather forcefully.

"Hey! I am not a nurse! Any idiot would know to put cold water and ice on a burn!" Husky growled, crossing his arms angrily. All that his outburst managed was to make the other two children laugh.

"Y'know Husky, you really shouldn't call yourself an idiot," Cooro said smiling. Husky's face went red again, although this time from embarrassment rather then anger, and this only caused the two to laugh even harder.

"I didn't… Shut up!" The silver boy yelled, throwing a book, not the one he was reading, in Cooro's general direction. He'd missed on purpose, but it still accomplished it's mission, although they were still rather giggly, much to Husky's annoyance.

"Hey Husky, what's that on your neck?" Nana asked, still looking happy, although the relaxed look was instantly wiped off of Cooro's face, and while Husky hadn't been too joyous in the first place, his expression now matched his black haired friend in one of worry. His hand instantly sprang up to cover the black marking he knew she must be talking about. The same markings that had both greatly disturbed and confused him when Cooro had first pointed them out.

"N-nothing!" Husky yelled, instantly regretting it as it made him ten times more suspicious then before. He glanced at Cooro and could tell he was trying to think of a reasonable excuse as to why Husky would suddenly have a tattoo, although that was hard even for him to be able to cover up.

"Well, that didn't just make you ten times more suspicious, now what is it? Move your hand," Nana said sarcastically, seeming to read the boy in front of her mind. The silver boy just shook his head, hoping that Cooro would hurry and become a distraction or something, and that Nana wouldn't notice that he had the same exact making on the other side of his neck.

"I don't have to show you anything," Husky said, praying he sounded more threatening then panicked, but just one more difference between him and his black haired friend was that, while Cooro was great at acting, Husky was, well, not so great. Nana put her hands on her hips, not getting why he was being so defiant, or what the big deal was, but she wasn't going to give up until she found out.

"What's the matter? Did you get a tattoo or something?" Nana asked. It had been purely a joke, but he eyes widened when she saw Husky's freaked expression and how he got even more pale then usual. "You got a tattoo? How? You're like, ten years old!" Nana yelled, trying in vain to see the markings.

"N-no! It's just… nothing! It's nothing!" Husky yelled, wishing he could disappear right about now.

"Husky, just let her see, what harm could it do?" Cooro said, speaking up for the first time, realizing that Nana would probably start to consider using physical force if told no one more time. Husky, although not seeming to like this idea one bit, also seemed to realize there was no stopping the brown haired demon, as he so kindly had dubbed her.

"Fine!" Husky growled, removing his hand. Nana gasped. He really had gotten a tattoo! "Just a bunch of black squiggles, happy?" The silver boy pouted, glaring at the corner of the room.

"B-but, how did you get a tattoo? You're ten years old! That can't be legal," Nana asked, sounding completely dumbfounded, which she was. The silver boy simply shrugged, trying to act like it was no big deal, this happens all the time… right.

"I donno," Husky mumbled, really starting to wish he was on the bed so that he could hide himself in the blankets again.

"You don't know? Tattoos don't just appear, you have to at least have some clues! Even when grown ups don't know how they got tattoos they can at least blame it on being drunk… You weren't drunk, were you!" Nana nearly screamed the last part. Cooro looked like he was trying to both think of a distraction and not laugh at the same time.

"No I was not drunk! I just… I don't know, okay, so just forget it," Husky grumbled, hoping this girl would just listen. To his surprise, she pretty much did. The three children sat in a rather uncomfortable silence after that for a few moments.

"They look like gills… or waves…" Nana said after some time, breaking the silence, although the awkwardness was still definitely there.

"Whatever," Husky grumbled, trying to read his book again, although the focus was obviously not there. Cooro was silent again, and all this being quiet was very unusual for him, but he kept looking from the black marks on his friends neck to the little origami fish next to him, still on the nightstand from the morning before, when they'd found it in Husky's knapsack. He couldn't help but think about how this was all very familiar, almost like de ja vu. A friend who couldn't remember where they got a tattoo… origami… animals…

"Senri's a bear!" The very loud and completely unexpected announcement cause Husky to fall out of his chair, and Nana to jump nearly a foot. Both turned angrily to the source of their surprise.

"What the _hell_, Cooro?" Husky yelled, pulling himself up off the floor, not fully comprehending what the other boy had screamed. Mainly just wondering what he hadn't pulled something like that when he'd needed it. Nana had an equally peeved look on her face, and was covering her ears.

"Seriously, make me go deaf in one ear. What did you even say anyway? Who's a what?" Nana asked, still sounding annoyed.

"Huh? Oh it's nothing, I just kinda thought of something," Cooro said, acting as though it was nothing strange what so ever. What he said though finally processed fully though Husky's head, delayed a bit due to the shock, and caused the boy to turn an unhealthy shade of white again. Not sitting down in the chair again, he went over to the bed instead, tugging on the blanket with his fingers absently.

"Husky? You okay?" Cooro asked, noticing the change in the other boy's behavior. Messing with the blanket was just another one of those strange things Cooro knew almost like second nature about his friend. It meant something was wrong.

"I'm fine, why?" Husky asked. His face had regained a little bit of it's color, but he was still tugging at the blanket, it balled up almost completely around his fist now.

"Just cause, you seem a little… something…" Cooro said, not quite sure how to word it, especially with Nana still in the room. "Hey Nana, maybe you should head home, I'll talk to you tomorrow," Cooro said, hoping she would catch his hint, and she did, thankfully.

"Alright, we'll talk then, see ya," She had wanted to say get well soon, or something, but wasn't sure if Husky would get offended or not. He probably would, so with that, the brown haired girl turned and left.

Once they heard the door close downstairs, both boys turned to each other, nether one quite sure what to say. "So… You really didn't know? Even though you drew that picture?" Husky asked finally, glancing up at his ebony haired friend.

"Wait, so it's true? Senri's a…" Cooro asked, not needing to finish his sentence, Husky nodded anyway.

"He looks just like your picture," The silver boy mumbled, and Cooro stood, dumbstruck. He had just… there was no way he could of known that when he drew that… he never saw anything, it had just came to him…

"When did you see?" The eleven year old asked. He was already pretty sure he knew when though, after all, Husky and Senri didn't exactly hang out on a regular basis.

"When he saved me, then I kind of fainted," Husky explained, and Cooro nodded. He thought so. "But how did you? I mean, you never saw him like that right? You just figured it out on your own?" Husky asked, looking and sounding just as lost as Cooro was.

"I don't have any idea, it just kind of came to me when I was looking at his tattoo after I gave him the origami bear. I just saw it in my mind, and drew it. I didn't actually know anything," Cooro attempted to explain, shaking his head the whole time. Husky was staring down at the floor, looking deep in thought.

"Cooro, who exactly did you give origami to?" The silver boy asked, and Cooro didn't have to think to answer that, it was a easy, if not strange and kind of random, question.

"Just you, Senri and Nana. I made one for myself too, why?" Cooro asked, not seriously thinking that the art of Japanese paper folding could possibly have anything to do with this crazy mess, "You don't think that really has anything to do with all this, do you? I mean, it is a really big coincidence, but…" Husky just shook his head.

"I don't know, but Cooro, remember your little joke about being able to see the future? Well, it might not be just a joke for long," Husky sighed. "You made Nana a bat, right?" He asked, and the black haired boy nodded. "What did you make yourself?" Cooro didn't have to think for that question either. In fact, he answered before he even had a chance to think.

"A crow," It was automatic. And strange. It had always just been a bird before, but Cooro decided that a crow was perfect. Although he suddenly didn't like that it was perfect, and wasn't sure he could handle much more of this, but Husky somehow managed to keep a serious and focused look to him, and it calmed the ebony haired boy's nerves just a bit.

"Alright, well, just stay on the lookout for I don't know, falling or something. Urg, I wish we could warn that stupid girl without actually telling her anything," Husky grumbled the last part, and he was still holding the blanket in a vise like grip. Cooro was glad that he hadn't needed to completely submerge himself in the fabric this time, but simply holding it seemed to calm him.

"We could tell her. I mean, if you are right about the origami, then she has a right to know," Cooro suggested, and he thought that was only fair. After all, if Nana turned into a vampire, then she at least deserved a little warning. Husky started pouting and crossed his arms, simultaneously letting go of the blanket and losing his 'focused and serious' look.

"Stupid girl will end up blabbing to everyone," He grumbled, and Cooro nearly laughed. At least Husky could still be his girl hating self when the rest of the world was going insane around his head.

"Fine fine, but if I end up turning into a birdman before she becomes Count Dracula, then we're telling her," Cooro said, figuring there was no point in arguing with the stubborn boy. He that if it did happen, his 'transformation' would happen before Nana's. Husky sighed and nodded, seeming to find that to be reasonable at least.

"Fine, fine, but until I see a beak, we're not telling her," Husky demanded.

"Alright, I get it," Cooro said, almost laughing again. Hey, if they all turned into animal people, it could actually be a little fun. "We should probably talk to Senri," Cooro said suddenly, remembering his quiet friend.

"Yeah, you know where he lives?" Husky asked, but Cooro shook his head.

"Nope, but I think we should wait until tomorrow anyway, and I always manage to find him when I look, so don't worry," Cooro said, seeing Husky's concern about finding the nearly silent teen.

"Alright, we'll look for him tomorrow," Husky said, getting his hand twisted up in the light blue fabric again. Cooro nodded enthusiastically.

"Yep, tomorrow it is!" Cooro yelled happily, plopping down hard on the bed next to his silver friend, causing the light boy to spring into the air. All this caused was an aggravated Husky pushing Cooro off the bed and to the ground. "Oww! Hey Husky! That hurt!" The ebony haired boy whined, although his act was ruined by the smile that was on his face.

"Deal with it!" Husky grumbled, crossing his arms and trying to look angry. He'd never be as good an actor as Cooro, though.

* * *

Yep, chapter done. Cooro and Husky are starting to put the pieces together, Nana's still oblivious, and Senri really needs some more screen time! Hopefully, he'll get it soon… maybe…. Woo, I'm mysterious with mah plot, wooooo.


	16. Chapter 16

Hellos. I am tired, but I'll probably be busy all the way until September, so I want to update this at least one more time before I start getting swamped.

Disclaimer- don't own +anima

Chapter 16

"Are you sure you two wish to go to school?" Mother Superior asked, looking the boys in front of her up and down worriedly. They both nodded, Cooro's energetic and hyper, Husky's just a calm twitch of the head. "If you insist," The woman gave in, and the two children ran past her. Well, one ran, the other preferred to walk.

"Are you sure you want to come Husky? I mean, you could of stayed at the church," Cooro asked, already sounding exactly like the nun they had just left. The silver haired boy simply nodded, not turning towards him.

"No use hiding in your room the rest of my life," He said, trying to make everything that had happened to him in the past few days sound like no big deal. Cooro nodded defeatedly, knowing not to press the slightly younger boy. The two walked in relative silence for a while, until they happened upon a familiar face.

"Oh! Hi Keane!" Cooro called enthusiastically, spotting his friend's brother a few meters ahead of them. The ginger turned around, hearing his name. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, which was probably true.

"Myrrah, Cooro! Are you going to school?" Keane asked, running up to the two. Cooro told him yes, while Husky simply nodded. The skinny boy tugged at the collar of his shirt, not wanting to have to relive the same incident as yesterday, although it would probably be ten times worse with Keane, especially as he was now. Husky could tell he probably hadn't slept, or talked to his mom since the night he left. He could also tell that Keane probably blamed himself for some insane reason or another. And he wouldn't call him Husky, which Keane himself had originally made up one day when they were young, to make fun of the silver boy's voice.

"So, does dad even know I'm gone?" Husky asked. He really didn't know if he would or now. He doubted his father would notice on his own, Husky never saw him, and he highly doubted Dylana would say anything. So if Keane hadn't given him an excuse, he was probably completely clueless that one of his sons hadn't been home in three whole days.

"I told him you were staying at a friend's house for a week, some school project about different home environments or something. He didn't ask, and knowing him, you probably have a lot longer then a week," Keane explained. Husky nodded. He'd forgot that Keane had probably had deal with their father never being there for his entire life even more then Husky. Hell, the fact that Husky even existed in the first place was proof that their father didn't really care about his family. No wonder Dylana hated him so much…

Husky didn't really talk much after that, although he was usually pretty quiet in the morning anyway. Keane had noticed Cooro's hand and asked what happened, and the black haired boy explained, once again leaving out how severe the incident could have been, especially if Husky hadn't come. Cooro probably would of just stood at the fire in fear for another ten minutes before finally trying to run from the, now engulfed, building.

"Bye Keane, see ya later," Cooro called, once the three had to split up . Keane nodded, before looking over at Husky. His brother looked pretty out of it, he had for a while now, actually.

"Um, Myrrah?" Keane called, hoping to get his attention. It didn't. "Myrrah!" The red head tried again, this time bringing the other boy out of his stupor.

"Huh? What?" Husky asked, attempting to mask himself with anger again. It didn't work though.

"Bye," was all Keane said, which caused the silver haired boy to blink in surprise.

"Oh… Bye," He mumbled back, not seeming angry in the least now, but definitely not happy either. Once inside the school the two made their way to their lockers. They really weren't that far from each other, not that an elementary school had many lockers to begin with, but it made Husky a bit more at ease. He didn't feel like being alone with all these people. If that made any sense.

"Hey, you guys came today!" The two turned to see Nana running towards them. Husky couldn't help but think, although reluctantly, that besides Cooro, this annoying girl was the only person he actually didn't mind seeing. Except for Keane, but he was in the middle school, and his brother, so he didn't count.

"Yep! How are you?" Cooro greeted, ever as enthusiastic. Husky hoped she wouldn't press how he'd gotten the tattoo again, because he still couldn't think of a reasonable answer, and he the only unreasonable one was that he was drunk, and their was no way in hell he was going to say that.

"I'm fine, you?" Nana asked, not seeming like she was planning on mentioning it, which was a relief to the silver boy. He didn't want everyone at school to find out, no way.

"I'm good. My hand doesn't hurt that bad anymore," Cooro said happily, waving his bandaged hand to prove his point. Husky just nodded. He knew it wasn't a yes or no question, but he wasn't really feeling all too talkative today. Maybe he should of stayed back at the church after all, but truthfully, he didn't want to be there without Cooro. It was kind of creepy.

"Husky, you okay?" Nana asked. They were both staring at him now, and Husky nodded yet again.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Although by now he knew it was a lie. He had never liked large crowds to being with, and after everything his anxiety was probably sky rocketing. He could tell his two friends, (Huh, two friends? That definitely was a first) didn't believe him, they appeared to just let it go.

"Well, I better get to class, see ya!" Nana called, leaving the two boys. Cooro called goodbye back, and Husky was silent yet again.

Once in class the two went up to their ever frazzled teacher, who appeared to have lost her whistle yet again. "Excuse me, Ms. Brighton?" Cooro asked, hoping to grab the lady's attention. A kid, Cooro thought his name was Sinon, fell into Husky, having tripped over a chair. The silver boy pushed him away rather forcefully, trying to mask his anxiety with anger. He tried to mask a lot of things with anger, actually.

"Oh boys, your back! Feeling better?" Ms. Brighton asked, in her frantic, and yet still peppy, tone.

"Yep, did we miss anything?" Cooro answered for the both of them. The young woman then began to explain whatever assignment they did yesterday, Husky wasn't listening. He was already wishing for the day to be over.

The class was excruciatingly slow for both boys. Husky couldn't sit still, some part of him constantly twitching or tapping. As for Cooro, besides being worried about Husky, he really didn't think he should of came to school today, the ebony haired boy had a splitting headache. He'd been fine all morning, so he had no clue what was wrong with him all of a sudden.

The bell for lunch rang, and both boys were glad for the momentarily release. Cooro sprang up from his chair, turning towards the window in the process. "Husky…" The addressed could barely hear his friend over the noise of the class, but turned towards him as if he had screamed. It wasn't normal for Cooro to speak so quietly like that.

"Whoa…" It was all that could escape the silver boy's lips. Crows, hundreds of them, were on the trees outside the school. No one else seemed to really notice though, after all, it was fall. Birds were flying south, but the flock sent chills down the two children. Without warning, the black birds suddenly flew away, and the two boys left the classroom just as quickly.

"That was… weird," Husky said finally, after a long stretch of silence at their usual lunch table. Cooro nodded, then began to rummage in his book bag without a word.

"What was weird?" Nana asked, now standing next to the table. Husky simply grunted and folded his arms. Might at least try to act normal.

"None of your business. What do you want?" The silver boy asked, trying to sound impatient. His heart just wasn't in it today though, and frankly, he was surprised he'd lasted this long.

"I was wondering if I could maybe, sit without guys today?" The brown haired girl asked, sounding much more nervous then before. The two boys looked at each other, both rather surprised at her request. Sure, she was their friend, but people just tended to get into a routine, and then didn't change there seats. That was probably one of the only reasons they were able to keep a table mostly to themselves.

"Course you can!" Cooro said happily. Nana seemed rather relived. Husky figured if he was himself and didn't feel like crawling under a blanket, then he would of made some sort of protest. Not that really minded that much, actually.

"Don't you usually sit with that annoying group of girls?" Husky had managed to ask once Nana sat down next to him. The girl shrugged.

"We kind of got into a fight," She said nonchalantly, not going into details. Poking at his food, the silver boy wasn't really hungry. Across the table he could see Cooro had a sketch book out as he munched on an apple. It looked pretty old, pages were falling out, and the covered looked like it was hanging on by a thread. Husky realized it was the same sketchbook that had the drawling of Senri in it.

"Oh Cooro, I didn't know you drew," Nana exclaimed, also eyeing the sketchbook. The ebony haired boy had it opened to a blank page now, probably one of the last ones.

"How are you going to draw with you hand… wait, how did you do anything all day?" Husky asked, although he suddenly realized the answer right before it left Cooro's lips.

"I'm left handed, now sure what I want to draw though," Cooro said, twittleing the pencil in his hand.

"Oh, can we see your sketch book then?" Nana asked happily, and Cooro pushed the beat up book towards the two. He'd never really had anyone interested in his work before, besides that one time when Husky had seen his Senri-bear picture.

The two flipped though the book slowly for two reasons. One, the pictures were amazing! Cooro sure had some hidden talent. The second, the pictures were all pretty odd. The two had to stop and look at the artist for an explanation several times. The first time was with a picture of an angle with on face. They would of just assumed it wasn't finished, if her face hadn't been shaded smooth.

"I just can't think of her face, no matter how hard I try so she doesn't get one…" The next picture they stopped on was simple enough. There was really nothing to explain about it, but neither Husky nor Nana could turn from the page. It was a man, he looked kind of like a scientist. He was waving, but he wasn't overly happy or anything, and he had a small, knowing smile. He creeped them out to no end.

"Who's this?" Husky asked. Who ever it was, He didn't like him, and hoped Cooro didn't actually know the guy.

"I donno, but he was in this dream I had," Cooro explained, now staring at the picture as well. The nearly constant smile left his face when he looked at him, as if he didn't really like him either.

"What was the dream?" Nana asked, now curious. If Cooro didn't like the man in the drawling, then why draw him in the first place?

"It was pretty jumbled, he wanted something from me, but I don't know what, and I had promised to give it to him, but I really didn't want to anymore, it just kind of stuck in my head, so I drew it," The black haired boy explained. Husky and Nana exchanged one last glance at each other before continuing through the book.

Almost at the end of the book, they had to stop at one last picture. It was so unlike anything they'd expect from the bubbly boy the sketch book belonged to, to draw. It was in all black ink, while most of the others had been either pencil sketches or in color, and it was… horrible! Not quality wise, no, it was still draw just as well as the others, but what was actually being drawn…

It looked like a room, but it was on fire. In the corner was a very large black puddle, both tried to imagine it was just water, and other one, slightly smaller, off to the other side. In the center was a small hatchet dripping…something… and just hanging, like the person holding it was invisible.

"Cooro, what…?" Husky started, not sure exactly what to say. Their black haired friend was twitching in his seat slightly, like he'd hadn't wanted them to see the picture, which was understandable, to say the least.

"Yeah, I'm not really sure what that one's about… I just uh, had a bad dream that night, and that's all I could remember… I kinda like to draw them…my dreams, I mean!" Cooro awkwardly tried to explain. The other two nodded, that seemed like something the eleven year old would do.

Afterwards they finished looking through the last few pictures, including the one of Senri, (Which strangely, or maybe not, Nana seemed just as interested in it as Husky had been the first time.) Although neither boy mentioned it, they were both very anxious for school to end so they could go out and find the teen now.

Finally the bell rang and the three children headed back off to class. The afternoon didn't pass any faster then the morning, but at long last the school day had finally ended. The two boys pushed through the crowded hallways, both wishing to get out of the building as fast as possible, although probably for different reasons. Cooro would look back over his shoulder periodically, just to make sure his silver haired friend was still behind him. He'd been acting strange all day, and Cooro was starting to get worried. About halfway down a hallway, he wasn't there anymore.

"Huh? Husky!" Cooro called, trying to stop his friend's unique hair color. "Husskkky!" The black haired boy repeated throughout the hallway. It was getting slightly less dense now, and Cooro scanned desperately for his friend.

Maybe he had somehow gotten in front of him and was already outside. He was afraid to leave though, with how Husky seemed to be getting worse and worse all day. Cooro had even told him that he should head to the nurse during their last class, but Husky had quickly shot that idea down.

Finally, in a little section of wall that seemed to indent for no reason that happened occasionally in the school, Cooro found him. He was on the floor, his arms wrapped around his knees, and his head resting on top of that. The child was basically in the fetal position.

"Husky! Are you okay!" Cooro yelled, instantly running over and kneeling next to his distraught friend. Husky nodded his head weakly, but Cooro knew without even thinking that that was a complete and utter lie. "No, you're not. C'mon, let's go home," Cooro said softly, hoping the other boy would listen, but he didn't move an inch.

"Please Husky. You don't want any teachers or other kids to see you like this, right?" Cooro asked, knowing how much his friend detested attention. That had actually got him moving a bit. Husky slowly unwrapped his arms from around his legs and stood up, holding onto the wall for support. Cooro smiled at the now extremely pale boy.

Once out of the building Husky seemed to start breathing a bit easier, although he was still pale and sweaty.

"What about Senri?" Husky asked, his voice barely above a whisper. Cooro had a hand on his shoulder, afraid the frail boy would fall over without any support.

"We'll go see Senri tomorrow, you need to rest," The eleven year old said firmly, and Husky didn't argue. Cooro wondered what was wrong with him. He knew the younger boy hadn't been doing well all day, but wasn't really sure what had sent him over the edge like this. Maybe it was all the people?

Once at the church Cooro had them go around to the back entrance. While he normally didn't mind if he had to go passed people praying in the front church, he didn't want them bothering Husky right now. In his room Cooro had Husky sit down on the bed, and the pale boy instantly smothered himself in the blue fabric. The black haired boy thought it was almost funny how someone who tried to put up such a strong front like Husky needed a literal security blanket.

"Want something to drink?" Cooro asked once he seemed a bit more relaxed. The silver boy nodded, and Cooro ran out, returning a few minutes later with a glass of water. "Sorry I took so long, the first one I poured kind of fell over," The eleven year old apologized, handing Husky the water.

Husky simply shook his head. "Thanks," He mumbled before sipping some of the water and placing the rest on the nightstand next to him. The two sat in silence for a bit, but it wasn't awkward, Cooro was just letting Husky collect himself a little more.

"So, what happened?" he asked once he was sure Husky was stable enough to talk. The silver haired boy sighed, twisting the blanket around in his hands.

"I think I kinda… had an anxiety attack," Husky mumbled, his face turning from pale to red. He wouldn't meet Cooro's eyes, and he looked almost ashamed, or at least embarrassed, which Cooro really didn't understand why he would feel that way.

"What you think cause it?" He asked. The boy on the bed shrugged.

"Probably all the people… I've never really liked crowds," Husky said. Cooro smiled slightly, he hadn't needed to be told that. It was obvious from the first day he had met the silver haired boy that he wasn't exactly a people person.

"Have you ever had one before?" Cooro asked. Husky nodded just slightly, continuing to play with the blanket.

"A few times… The last was when my mom and I went to the beach, and these kids tried to teach me how to swim…" Husky was quiet for a long time, apparently thinking. "I've never really liked water…" It was just a whisper, and Cooro could barely hear him. Both boys were silent for a while after that.

"Sorry," Again, it was barely audible, Cooro wasn't even sure at first if he really heard it, and when he realized he did, couldn't for the life of him figure out why.

"Whatcha mean Husky? You didn't do anything wrong," Cooro asked, watching his friend squirm slightly under the covers.

"For making you worry… and we didn't get to see Senri," the silver haired boy mumbled. Cooro almost had to laugh. And people said he apologized too much. Although he had to admit, he probably would of apologized too.

"Don't be sorry about that! We can see Senri tomorrow, and it wasn't like you wanted to have an anxiety attack," the older boy told him, and Husky nodded slightly. "You're not going to school tomorrow, though," Cooro commanded, and the silver boy nodded again, a bit more forcefully this time.

"Y-yeah, that's probably a good idea," He mumbled. The black haired boy smiled and nodded.

"Okay, then you should get some rest, even if you're not going to school, you think you'll still be up to finding Senri when I come home?" Cooro asked. Husky nearly winced, of course Cooro wouldn't stay at the church with him, he had to go to school, even if he didn't. The silver haired boy couldn't let Cooro know that he wanted him to stay though, because something told him that the ebony haired boy would stay in a heart beat.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Husky answered, trying to sound more convincing then he felt. Cooro, although not completely buying it, smile happily at the silver fish boy.

"Alright then, rest up!" Cooro demanded, and Husky was actually able to smile just slightly at his hyper friend's enthusiasm as something so unenthusiastic as sleep. The younger boy laid down as told, although not actually expecting to fall asleep.

Cooro sat at his desk, his beat up old sketch book out again, and began to draw a new picture on one of the few remaining pages. It was Husky, he was underwater, and his feet were just beginning to morph into fins. He was holding a staff loosely, and had a serious look on his face.

The black haired boy glanced over at his friend. He definitely didn't have a serious face on now. Poor kid was out like a light.

* * *

Hurray. Longest chapter to date. I really do love Husky, I'm just cruel to those I love. And poor Senri, still no screen time for him I'm afraid. Husky had to have a panic attack and mess everything up. Kidding.

Well, please review. Slowly the plot is being revealed, because I write a lot like that.


	17. Chapter 17

Hello my faithful readers. I know I said I probably wouldn't update until September, but I just finished The Scarlet Letter (I do not like that book. Not in the least) for school, it's six in the morning, haven't slept a wink, and have nothing better to do. Not to mention I've been rather drawn to this story more so then my other ongoing ones recently for some reason. Maybe because I actually know where I'm going with this, which is rare for me. Well, anyways, here's the new chapter, a few days in advanced, cause I like you all that much.

Chapter 17

"Are you sure you'll be okay by yourself? I can stay home if ya want?" Cooro asked, for what seemed like the umpteenth time. What Husky wanted to say was, no, he didn't think he'd be okay, the church was creepy and he wasn't entirely sure if he was mentally stable yet, probably not, but what he ended up saying was the same answer he'd given his friend every other time he had asked.

"I'll be fine. Just get to school already, you're gonna be late," The silver haired boy grumbled, and Cooro reluctantly agreed. Saying goodbye, he left Husky alone in his room for the day as he headed off to school.

One the ebony hared boy was gone, Husky sat down on the bed with a plop. He didn't know what to do now. He couldn't leave the church, people would ask why he wasn't in school, and he didn't want to mess with Cooro's things. Sure, the carefree boy probably wouldn't mind in the least, but Husky had always felt the need to respect other people's privacy. If someone didn't want to tell you something, then you had absolutely no right to pry.

Husky laid down, although he wasn't tired, he'd only woken up a few moments ago, just bored. He didn't want to just sit and think though, because who knew where his thoughts would lead to right now. He didn't want to think, but he had nothing to do, and you try to just stop thinking. Go on, do it, tell me how far you get with that. Not far, huh?

The silver haired boy absently ran his hand on the spot on his neck where he knew the black markings were. He hoped going to see this Senri guy would give him some answers. Truthfully, when he'd first saw the marks, after Cooro had pointed them out, he'd nearly fainted. They were the same markings he would always end up doodling on the sides of school papers and such when he was bored. Did that mean he'd always been like this, deep down, or it was destiny, or some other cheesy chiz like that?

Husky sighed. When he and Nana had been looking through Cooro's sketchbook, the silver boy had seen a marking in a similar style as the ones on his neck and Senri's arm, drawn several times throughout the book.

The boy sat up and looked himself over in the long mirror hanging on the bedroom door. It wasn't something you'd expect to see in the child's room, he didn't really care about his appearance. The ten year old could only imagine that maybe that old nun had put it there as a way to try and get Cooro to start caring. He was pretty sure it hadn't worked.

Husky had never really liked his appearance. He didn't think he was ugly, not in the least, no one did. Only far, far too feminine. Hell, he'd once been described as 'having eyes like the ocean, hair like the finest silver, and skin as perfect as a porcelain doll.' Who can describe a boy like that? He'd nearly punched the guy in the face, but was held back by a couple of his friends apparently. Poor guy for the life of him couldn't understand what he'd done wrong, too.

Staring at himself now, he still didn't like it. All he could think of was his mother. He remembered the morning of his first day of school, he couldn't look in the mirror without wincing. Over time though, and actually having some friends for the first time in his life, he'd actually gotten better. He hadn't thought that could happen, only know Dylana had almost completely reversed any and all progress he'd made.

Husky shook his head. He wasn't staring at himself to reflect, he'd come over to this stupid mirror for a reason. He ran his fingers over the marks yet again. He hadn't transformed since the one time that morning, it was hard to believe it was actually real. The silver boy hadn't changed on purpose that day, either. It was the result of his little panic attack from the fear of possible going home. Staring at himself in the mirror, he wanted to see if he could actually control the transformation, and to a certain extent, just make sure he hadn't gone completely insane.

It was a very strange sensation. He could feel the scales growing all down his body, starting at his neck, and his legs fuse together, get thicker, and his feet elongate, flatten and change into a fin. The strangest part was probably the gills, he couldn't even describe the feeling, it was almost like his neck had grown lungs. His real lungs were still working, although he could feel the gills attempting to draw in oxygen. If he stopped breathing, he could feel the gills struggling even more so.

The fish boy quickly changed back, feeling the process go in reverse, which was just as strange was the other way around. He was sitting on the ground now, because you can't exactly stand on a fish tail, so he pulled himself up and went back over to the bed and sat down. The shape shifting had worn him out. While thankfully it didn't actually hurt, it was a strange new sensation he couldn't get used to just yet.

Laying back down on the bed, Husky considered just sleeping until Cooro got home. He didn't really have anything better to do, and he wasn't hungry in the least, so it wasn't like he'd mind missing breakfast, or even lunch. Closing his eyes, the silver boy drifted off the dreamland much more easily then he thought he would have.

Cooro couldn't sit still all day. He didn't like leaving Husky home alone, and he couldn't wait until the day was over so he could go back and make sure the younger boy was alright. The black haired boy was very thankful when the bell for lunch sounded, signaling that the day was halfway gone.

"Hey Cooro, where's Husky?" Nana asked, sitting down across from her friend. Cooro smiled at her. He had gotten to school late, just as Husky said he would, and hadn't gotten a chance to talk to the brown haired girl. Absently, he wished he could tell her everything about what was going on, he trusted her not to go telling anyone, but he knew Husky had trust issues, and issues with girls, although he noticed Husky didn't mind Nana as much as most girls. Plus, he'd promised Husky he wouldn't tell, so he wont.

"At the church. He kind of had a little breakdown after school yesterday, so he stayed home," Cooro explained, trying his best to make it sound like it was no big deal, although he saw Nana almost immediately look worried.

"Is he okay?" She asked, leaning over the table a bit. Cooro nodded, unable to speak due to the food in his mouth.

"Yeah, it was just the stress of too many people too soon, and he's had them once or twice before, anxiety attacks, I mean," Cooro told her, and it seemed to of calmed her a little bit, although she still seemed concerned for her rude friend.

Neither said much more for the remainder of lunch, both caught up in their individual thoughts. Cooro glanced at the girl in front of him, and couldn't help but wonder if the two of them sitting there were going to end up like Senri and Husky. The black haired boy truthfully wouldn't mind all that much. He'd actually like nothing better then to be able to fly above the clouds. He figured if he was right about being part animal, might as well go all the way and be right about being part crow, but he was almost positive Nana would be at the very least, scared.

He got the urged to warn her, suddenly. Husky hadn't gotten a warning, and he'd been pretty scared, if not close to traumatized. It was, strangle enough, probably the pervious traumatic experience he'd so recently had that kept him from completely losing it, somehow. The only thing was though, he didn't know how, or really even if, he should warn the seemingly obvious girl sitting across from him. Before he could decide though, the bell to get back to class rang out.

"Oh, see ya Cooro," Nana said, throwing her garbage away in one of the huge grey trash bins. The addressed boy nodded, not entirely sure what he wanted to say.

"Okay, um, hey Nana?" He asked, sounding more uncertain then normal. The brown haired girl turned back around upon hearing Cooro call her like that.

"Yeah, what is it?" Nana asked, slightly puzzled by her friend's behavior. He couldn't seem to be able to find the words he wanted to say, and he wouldn't quite meet her eyes.

"It's nothing, just… be careful," the ebony haired boy said finally, still not looking her in the eyes. Nana blinked in confusion. Why would he tell her to be careful, was something going on? You only tell someone to be careful if they were going to do something you thought was dangerous, or you were worried about them for some reason. Why would Cooro be worried about her?

"Uh, sure. You too?" Nana said finally. The older boy just nodded, before flashing her a smile and running off towards his class. The brown haired girl sighed. Cooro, no, Cooro and Husky, she wasn't sure she would ever be able to understand either of them. They were just so strange. Smiling softly, Nana shook her head and started out of the cafeteria. They were strange all right, but for some crazy reason, she liked them.

Afternoon passed even slower then morning had. Cooro couldn't wait to get out of that classroom even more now. The sooner he did, the sooner he could make sure Husky was alright, and they could go see Senri. After what seemed an eternity the dismissal bell rang, and Cooro was the first one out of class.

Nearly running the entire way home, the black haired boy made it to his room in record time. He opened the door to his room slowly though, he didn't know how Husky would be. He could be asleep for all her knew. Cooro had to keep back a laugh when he saw that his most recent prediction was true. He wasn't sure if he should wake the other up, he actually looked peaceful. Luckily, he didn't need to decide, the younger boy began to wake up on his own accord.

"Urg, huh? Oh, hey Cooro," Husky grumbled, pushing himself into a sitting position and rubbing his eyes.

"Hiya! When you get more awake, wanna go find Senri?" Cooro asked, and just the mention of the quiet teen seemed to liven the sleepy boy up a bit.

"Oh yeah, sure. Just give me a minute," Husky said. Soon, the silver boy was getting ready to go out, and the two were finally ready to go and speak to the silent teen.

The two friends walked along the street, neither boy quite sure where to look. Husky glanced over at the ebony haired boy. What if they couldn't find him? "Hey Cooro? Do you have any idea where he might be?" The silver boy asked. Cooro put his hand to his chin in a little thinking position.

"Donno. He could be at the park, I find him there sometimes. It's weird, whenever I wanna see him, I can find him without too much trouble, so don't worry," Cooro said happily. Husky simply nodded, he didn't exactly want anymore weird things, but if it helped them find Senri…

The two boys made there way to the park, and surprisingly or unsurprisingly, depending on whether you're an optimist or pessimist, saw the one eyed teen they were looking for sitting on a bench. My bench, Husky thought silently, but quickly pushed it out of his mind. They had bigger things to worry about then his obsessive compulsive tendencies. The two ran over to Senri, both eager and a little afraid over what might happen next.

"Hi Senri!" Cooro greeted happily, and the older teen smiled at him. Husky didn't say anything, instead trying to think of the correct way to approach their desired question. He didn't need to though, Cooro beat him to it.

"Hey, Husky said that the night you saved him, you grew a bear arm, is that true?" Cooro asked innocently, his enthusiasm never fading. Husky nearly feel over, from both the shock of his friend's outburst and spinning on his heel to face him so fast.

"Ah! Cooro! Don't be so blunt about it!" Husky yelled, looking around them as if trying to find people eavesdropping on them. Cooro's smile never faded though, and the black haired boy merely shrugged at his friend's near panic.

"It's fine, you can trust Senri, and no ones listening to us, so don't worry," he told the silver boy calmly. There was another reason as to why he was so blunt with the teen. He wasn't entirely sure if Senri would be able to figure them out if they tried to be all secretive. Cooro didn't know exactly what it was, but he knew there was something not quite right with Senri.

Senri looked at the two boys in front of him and nodded. He knew that he should probably try to keep the strange power a secrete, but he trusted them for some reason. Even the one he'd just met not too long ago, with the blue eyes. What was his name again? Oh yeah, Husky, that was it. The grey haired teen was mildly surprised that he was able to remember it.

"Wow, that's so cool! Husky's kinda like that too! He's a fish though, not a bear," Cooro said, although too happily and much too loudly for Husky's taste, causing the silver boy to wince.

"Cooro! What if someone hears you!" Husky nearly growled at the black haired boy, who's only physical response was to just keep smiling at him.

"And you'd think they'd believe me? Really Husky? I could go around telling everybody in this park I was a mermaid, and all I'd get was some people confused, some to laugh, and maybe a couple to play along," Cooro told his friend calmly, and it did manage to stop his freaking considerably. The two boys turned back towards the one eyed teen, who'd stayed quiet during the whole exchange, big surprise there.

He was staring at Husky, and then nodded slightly. It made sense to him for some reason. What Cooro had said just seemed right, almost normal. The silver boy shrank slightly under the gaze. Senri could be intimidating, even when he wasn't trying to be.

"Err, do you remember how you got it?" the ten year old asked quietly. He was going to ask if he'd always had it, but he felt almost certain he hadn't for some reason. Senri shook his head, and Husky sighed. If it was anything like what had happened to him, how could the teen possibly not remember?

Husky looked at the nearly mute boy in front of him and suddenly felt that maybe whatever happened actually made it so that he couldn't remember. Husky had read many psychology books growing up, mainly because of the social anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder many child psychologist insisted he had, and it seemed to him like something might of traumatized the grey haired teen, or at least something to that affect.

"That's okay Senri, it's really helpful just knowing you really do have a bear arm," Cooro told him happily, and Senri smiled once again at the younger boy. Cooro continued talking for a bit longer, and the teen would sometimes give a one word answer, but Husky had mainly tuned them both out.

So he hadn't been hallucinating, Senri really did have a bear arm. What were they going to do now? What if Cooro and Nana both became animals too, like some crazy disease? What would they do then?

"Husky? Hey Husky!" Cooro called, waving his hand in front of the silver boy's face and momentarily bringing him out of his thoughts.

"What?" Husky snapped, trying his best to sound annoyed. Cooro's happy expression didn't waver though, and it was either that the black haired boy couldn't tell when someone was mad at him, or, even more worriedly in Husky's opinion, he was able to tell when the silver boy wasn't really mad. Something told him that, despite his friend's seemingly dense personality, it was most likely the latter.

"I asked if you were ready to go," Cooro repeated, and Husky simply shrugged, "Okay, bye Senri. See ya later!" the eleven year old said happily to the teen, who nodded at the two of them.

"Bye," Husky mumbled, and Senri smiled at the shy boy. He was glad that he'd found him that night, not wanting to think about what might of happened had be not.

The two younger boys began to head back to the church, Cooro humming an annoying little tune all the while. Husky was going to tell him to stop, but decided to just ask him something instead. "Hey Cooro, did something ever happen to Senri?" Cooro cocked his head to the side and looked at his friend, confused.

"Whatcha mean?" He asked back, and Husky shrugged, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"I don't know, something just seemed a little off about him," The silver boy said and Cooro stared at him for about a second before nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened, he's been like that for as long as I've known him, but I think you're right," Cooro said, and Husky nodded, not sure what else to say. Up ahead, the church was coming into view, "C'mon, we're almost there. Oh! I hope dinner's ready!" Cooro announced excitedly. Husky merely rolled his eyes and slapped the back of the older boy's head.

"I swear, all you ever think about is food," the silver boy grumbled, and Cooro's smile just widened.

"Yep!" the black haired boy agreed happily. Husky shook his head and stared at the sidewalk, although he was smiling slightly. Thank goodness, really, that Cooro was so happy. If Husky had to go through all this with someone like himself, mildly depressed, with high anxiety and slightly obsessive compulsive, he definitely wouldn't of even lasted this long.

* * *

It is now eight twenty in the morning, but I finished it. And Senri finally gets some screen time, although it's still not much. These chapters are just getting longer and longer, aren't they? Do you like the long chapters, or prefer more bite size bits?

Alright, you people review and tell me what you think, I'm going to sleep. G'night, or morning, or whatever…


	18. Chapter 18

Hello everybody. Sorry about the long wait and now the slightly shorter then normal chapter. The chapters for this story are on average, much longer then any other fanfic I have, so it's still a decent size though. To me, at least.

Surprise though, we are nearing the end of my prewritten portion of this story. The fact that I even had a prewritten part is amazing, and only due to the fact that I started this before I had a enough money to buy a laptop to actually work on. After this there are only four more written chapters, but don't worry, I actually have a plan for what to happen even past then, so writers block should not be as big as a problem on this. Well, enough of that, on with the story.

Chapter 18

The next day Cooro went off to school while Husky stayed at the church again. This time though, he didn't sleep the whole day away. He was too twitchy and bored. He tried to stay out of other people's personal belongings, but by the time the black haired boy had come home, the Husky had organized and then reorganized almost everything that could be in his friend's room. When Cooro had first came in, he didn't notice anything for about three seconds, before he finally did and had to look around slowly. Finally his gaze landed on the bored looking boy sitting on his bed, a large pile of cards scattered haphazardly in front of him.

"Whoa, Husky, what did you do to this place?" Cooro asked, sounding a bit dumbfounded. The older boy wasn't exactly the neatest person in the world, and this was the best his room had looked in, well, forever. Husky's bored look was now replaced with one of fear and apprehension though, now sure what his friend was thinking.

"S-sorry, I uh, got bored, and just kind of… organized some stuff," Husky mumbled, scratching the back of his head.

"Don't be sorry! It looks great!" Cooro announced happily, bouncing into the room and sitting at his desk chair. The happy and carefree reaction, although Husky had told himself a million times that he wouldn't mind, caused him to relax greatly.

"Really?" The silver boy asked, and Cooro nodded feverishly, poking at one of the small trinkets carefully placed on his desk. "So… how was school?" Husky asked awkwardly, and the older boy spun in his chair to face the other child quickly.

"Good, boring. Nana wasn't there today. She's absent a lot, isn't she? Ms. Brighton lost her whistle again. Where dose it keep going? I think kids are hiding it on purpose. Oh! They said that we're gonna start gym instead of art next week! I don't like gym, I'd rather be in art, what about you? The gym teacher seems strict, which is weird cause he has long hair. Strict people don't usually have long hair. Oh, and-"

"Cooro!" Husky yelled, cutting off the long rant.

"Yeah?" The older boy asked innocently, not appearing to realize at all that he had been rambling.

"Slow… down…" The silver boy commanded, using his hands for emphasis. Cooro rubbed the back of his head and giggled slightly, seeming to realize his mistake now.

"Hehe, right. So, um, whatcha wanna do today?" Cooro asked, and his friend merely shrugged. "I think mother superior needs me to pick up some medicine for her, wanna come?" Cooro asked, and the silver boy simply shrugged again. That was his answer for most questions, really.

"Sure," he said nonchalantly, although that careless look was soon ruined when his eyes widened and he gasped, sitting up straight. Stupid stupid stupid! He'd suddenly remembered something very important. To the child psychiatrist, at least.

"Husky! What's wrong!" Cooro asked, sounding worried over his friend's sudden change in behavior. The younger boy shook his head though, now seeming much less startled, although still a bit worried.

"It's nothing, I just remembered I haven't taken my medicine since I came here…" Husky mumbled, talking more to himself then the black haired boy. Actually, now that he thought about it, he hadn't taken any medicine since he moved.

"What medicine?" Cooro asked curiously. Husky was starting to avoid eye contact again. Great, he hadn't meant to say that out loud. It was for his stupid social anxiety and OCD that everyone said he had, but there was probably some truth to it. It dawned on him that, combined with everything that had happened, that he was not taking it was probably a part of the reason why he had to act whenever he tried to be 'normal.'

Glancing at the still concerned boy in front of him, he wasn't sure how to answer. He'd never told anyone that he actually had to take medicine and went to psychiatrist and all that other stuff. He was already picked on enough, no need to add fuel to the fire. He never even told Keane. Sure, they'd only recently became less then enemies, but he was still his brother. Sort of.

"It's not important… it's just medicine, to help me like, relax and stuff," The silver haired boy mumbled. There wasn't any need to lie to Cooro, but there wasn't any reason to tell him everything either. The older boy smiled though, apparently that was enough for him.

"Wanna ask Keane to bring it over?" He asked, but Husky quickly shook his head. He knew that if he asked Keane to bring over the medicine, then he'd want to know what it was for, and something told him that the red head wouldn't be as cooperative as Cooro.

"No, it's okay. I can go without it," The silver boy told him, trying to sound more certain then he actually was. Cooro didn't look very convinced, though.

"Are you sure?" he asked, sounding worried still. Husky nodded, he didn't need or have any desire to add to Keane's list of things to freak about. "If you say so, but it you feel you need it, just tell me, okay?" the older boy asked, and Husky nodded again. He felt a little bad about it, but it was a really good thing in times like this that Cooro was so darn obedient.

"I'll tell you, don't worry," Husky tried to reassure him, and Cooro nodded, although the attempt didn't seem to be working much at all.

The rest of the day passed mostly uneventfully. The only thing of significance that happened was the decision to keep Husky home the rest of the week. The skinny boy didn't complain though. While it was extremely boring, he still didn't think he could handle all those people yet.

The next day Cooro was once again in class. It was boring without Husky. He wished Nana could be in his class, so that he could have a friend again. He was spacing out now, though he knew that he should be paying attention, but it was just so hard to concintrate on something so boring and irrelevant as math when two of his three best friends were part animal, there was a high possibility that the same thing could happen to both him and Nana, and his best friend was currently hiding out in his house so that his step mom didn't find and kill him.

Kill him. Once those words rang through his head, he wasn't in the classroom anymore for some reason. Well, he guessed he could be, it was too dark to see. He had no idea where he was. The ebony haired boy looked in all directions, but saw nothing to indicate there was a world past the darkness.

Cooro's felt his heart stop when the pitch silence he hadn't even noticed before was broken with an ear shattering scream. He wanted to find whoever was screaming, but didn't have any clue which way to head. It sounded like it came from everywhere. It wasn't a scary scream though, like a demon trying to kill him. It sounded desperate, terrified and completely heartbroken. For some reason that scared him more then any demon could.

He spun around faster, trying to find the source of the sound. He knew that voice! He knew it! Who was screaming? He couldn't pick a direction and was starting to become desperate. Where were they!

"Cooro! Cooro! Are you alright!" Mrs. Brighton asked franticly, shaking the ebony haired boy. His eyes shot open, but he couldn't remember when he'd closed them. He was back in the classroom, but on the floor. Wait… what just happened?

"Wha?" Cooro asked, sounding groggy and disoriented, which is how he felt. The rest of the class had gathered around him sometime when he couldn't remember, and Ms. Brighton was holding onto his shoulder, like she was afraid he'd collapse for something.

"You just passed out all of a sudden. Are you alright? Sinon, go get the nurse!" The panicked woman ordered, and Cooro just nodded slightly, not exactly paying attention to what was going on much. Had that been some sort of dream? But, who had been screaming? The black haired boy could of sworn he knew that voice from somewhere. It was just like that other dream he had! Only he had been asleep when he had the other one, so it was slightly more normal. Not to mention the other one was much less terrifying. Oh shoot, was Ms. Brighton talking to him?

Before Cooro could start to pay attention again, the nurse ran into the room behind that Sinon boy. She quickly shoed the other children away from him and took him to her office before he really could comprehend what was going on.

Once there though, the eleven year old quickly tried to pull his act together, insisting that he could go back to class. He didn't feel sick, just tired, and that he would be just fine for the rest of the day. The woman immediately disagreed, even though she said it was true that he didn't have a temperature, she quickly called the church to have somebody come and pick him up. Cooro didn't really blame her though. Kids didn't pass out in class everyday. Besides the usual runny noses, stomach aches, and occasional broken finger during gym, this was probably the most excitement she'd had in a while.

Ad he sat on the little bed thingy waiting for Mother Superior to arrive, Cooro tried to think about his dream again, if it could be called that. There wasn't really much to remember though. Just darkness, confusion, and that scream. It was useless though. No matter how hard he tried to place that voice, he just couldn't. It was exactly like his other dream, and the only thing about that which annoyed him even more was that the two voices belonged to different people. Now there were two mystery dream people he couldn't place.

Soon the old nun arrived and whisked him away for the second time that day. She asked him a million questions on the way home, but Cooro just stuck with the fact that he was tired. It was easier then trying to explain what really happened, which, truthfully, he had no clue about. When he stepped into his room, Husky's head shot up from the floor. He had the cards out again, but they were stacked up like a mini house. Needless to say, the silver boy looked very surprised to see Cooro home two hours early.

"What the? Cooro? What are you doing back so soon for?" Husky asked, standing up from the floor and sitting on the desk chair, letting the exhausted looking boy in front of him take the bed instead.

"It's nothing. I just blacked out for a little bit and everybody made a big deal out of it. I'm fine," Cooro explained, trying to still sound like his normal, happy self.

"Blacked out? Cooro! That is a big deal! Lay down!" Husky demanded, and the older boy did as he was told, although he still insisted that it was nothing. "It is not nothing. Now tell me what happened. Everything!"

"I'm not sure really. I was kind of spacing out during class, and then everything went black, and when I woke up I was on the floor and Ms. Brighton was shaking me and telling that quiet kid Sinon to go get the nurse," Cooro explained. Like with Mother Superior, he left out the more disturbing and confusing parts. He didn't need to worry anyone any more then he already was.

"Alright, just, lay down," Husky told the black haired boy again, and couldn't help but his friend one of his trademark smiles.

"I'm already lying down, Husky," Cooro said, and pulled the covers a bit higher up on him, although he didn't stop smiling. The silver boy huffed a bit and crossed his arms though, not finding the joke particularly funny.

"Sleep!" Husky yelled, throwing another pillow at the older boy.

"Yes sir!" Cooro said, giving his friend a little mock salute, although, despite the small display of energy, he still ended up falling asleep only a few minutes later.

* * *

More and more begins to unravel. This chapter was kind of short compared to some of the more recent ones, but it's kind of a turning point in the story I think. The dreams are becoming more real and more ominous. Also, about Husky. For some reason I feel that out of anyone, he would be the one with a few mental quirks. I'm trying to keep it accurate and realistic though. I wont be making him a shut in who counts spoons all day long. (references ftw)

One more thing. Despite not having the most chapters of any of my stories, this one is officially the longest by far. Something tells me it'll stay that way for a while too, so hurray about that.

Last but not least, thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far (so often do I forget to thank you wonderful people) and to everyone who will.


	19. Chapter 19

I'm back! It's a miracle! Sorry about the extreme wait for this, if you went to my profile recently, you probably saw that it was cause my laptop was having some technical difficulties that wouldn't let me do anything, but it's fixed now! Hurray! Hopefully now I will be able to update at a reasonable pace again. I hate waiting, so I don't like to make other people have to suffer too.

Disclaimer- Don't own +anima. Not _that_ much has changed in twenty five days.

Chapter 19

Cooro stayed home from school the next day. He insisted he was fine, but mother superior and Husky, although the silver boy didn't have any official say in the matter, he was definitely an influence on Cooro's decision, both said that he should take at least one day to rest.

It was around noon now and Husky was worried. Cooro had hardly said a thing all day. "Hey, Coor?" the silver boy asked finally. He wasn't entirely sure where the nickname had come from all of a sudden, but decided to just ignore it for now, it wasn't important. The black haired boy didn't make any more to turn towards him though, just sitting on the windowsill and looking out like he had been all day long. He looked kind of like he was deep in thought about something, but Husky couldn't rightfully place what.

"Yeah?" Husky was relieved that he actually answered though. If he had to repeat himself, his concern probably would have doubled.

"You okay?" Cooro nodded and the skinny boy frowned. That was a complete lie. He hadn't been alright since he had blacked out the day before, and Husky was sure that the ebony haired boy was keeping something about it from him. Sighing, the silver haired boy closed the book in his lap. This was going to be tough. Cooro could be almost as stubborn as himself sometimes.

"Hey, stop staring off into space and look at me," Husky demanded, and as per usual, the other boy obeyed. "What's wrong?" He tried again. An almost somber expression crossed the black haired boy's face, and it nearly scared Husky. He wasn't used to the happy-go-lucky boy acting like this.

"I was just thinking," Cooro said finally, and Husky had to keep himself from sighing again. He already knew that.

"About?" He prompted, but his friend didn't say anything for a moment. It surprised the silver boy a bit just how serious he could be. He always put on such a happy act, it was hard to remember that he actually had a pretty rough past, and Husky was just now beginning to realize how accurate he was in calling it an act.

"Just… y'know, everything. These weird animal things, and why us," Cooro told him. The silver boy nodded slightly. Of course, despite how easy going he seemed about the whole thing, all this was probably wearing on the eleven year old as much as it was on him.

"Yeah but, don't worry about it okay, we'll drive ourselves insane if we do," Husky said finally, and Cooro nodded. The black haired boy then flashed his friend a smile, although it didn't help much, seeing as he turned to look out towards the window right afterwards, as if completely ignoring his friend's advice.

On Friday Cooro insisted that he was well enough to go to school, and mother superior finally caved in. Husky didn't really get why he was so insistent in going to school, but Cooro was actually more serious about his grades then he let on, and he actually had to go to school to get good grades. He knew one of the things that made Husky more at ease with staying home, besides the fact that he was just plain not ready to go back, was that everything there was so easy for him. Now he wasn't jealous or anything, it was just the facts that he couldn't pick things up as quickly. The only problem was that once he was in school, he couldn't concentrate on a thing.

Nana was at school again, so the two sat together at lunch. The brown haired girl almost immediately asked if he was alright, what had happened to him the other day having spread like wildfire through the school.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't get enough sleep and then didn't eat breakfast or something," Cooro said, playing it off like nothing again. It was quiet after that, neither having anything to really say, that they wanted to, at least. Suddenly Cooro's head shot up without warning. "What about Husky?" He asked. Nana looked at the boy confused.

"I didn't say anything about Husky," She told him. She hadn't said anything at all, in fact, but Cooro looked slightly perplexed at her answer.

"Oh… I could of sworn you called his name," the black haired boy said softly, but Nana just shook her head. Sighing, he threw the remainder of his food in the trash bin. Seeing this, Nana shot him a look that said exactly what Husky had asked the day before. What's wrong? Truthfully, Cooro wasn't sure on how to answer. There was still so many things the green eyed girl didn't know yet.

"It's nothing," He decided finally, although instantly knew she didn't buy it. "I guess I'm just worried about Husky," It wasn't exactly a lie, he was very worried about his silver haired friend, that just wasn't the sole reason for his strange behavior. His words almost immediately sent Nana into a pit of worry.

"Why? Has he not been doing okay? I haven't seen him since Monday. Do you guys know what's gonna happen with his step-mom yet?" She asked.

"Well, he's doing a lot better then almost anybody would be in his situation, I guess, but I don't know what's going to happen really. Husky doesn't want to go to the police, and I mean, he can stay at the church as long as he wants, but I don't think that hiding away is gonna solve anything. Someone's gonna get suspicious eventually…" The eleven year old confessed, and Nana nodded slightly. "It's just kinda… scary," he said quietly, and the brown haired girl wasn't sure what to do or say. She wanted to help her friends, but didn't know how to.

"It'll be alright, Husky's strong," It wasn't much, but it was the only reassuring thing she could think of to say. If it worked or not, she didn't know, but Cooro smiled at her as the bell to get back to class rang out through the building.

After school, the ebony haired boy just wanted to head straight back to the church, but as he had learned several times in his short life, you don't always get what you want.

"Hey! Freak!" Called an obnoxious voice from somewhere behind him. Cooro sighed, an expression as close to anger as he could get crossing his face. With everything that had happened lately, he'd completely forgotten about those three.

"Yes?" Cooro asked, turning about to see Selim, followed closely by Tyler and Joe. He knew that it had been either Tyler or Joe, probably Joe from the sound, had been the one to call his name, but the black haired boy was mainly addressing the ringleader.

"So, what happened to your girlfriend?" The rich boy asked, and to anyone who was listening in, it sounded like he was genuinely concerned, but there were two problems with this. One, Selim would never be concerned about anything related to Cooro, and two, he didn't have a girlfriend. He was only eleven after all, so it was most likely a jab at something or someone.

"I don't have a girlfriend," The black haired boy said blankly and turned to leave. He didn't have the time or desire to deal with them right now, or ever again, for that matter.

"What? You and the little silver princess broke up? That's so sad," Selim said with now obvious mock sympathy. Cooro sighed and turned back around. Now he got what the jab was, how original.

"Husky's not a girl," He said, once again trying to keep any emotion from reaching his voice. Just because he was friendly with most people didn't mean he'd try to act all buddy buddy with these guys. Mainly he was just trying to ignore Joe's snickering and Tyler's arrogant look. They could be so distracting sometimes, he's much rather it'd just be Selim, despite the displeasure of dealing with any of them.

"Really now? That's a surprise. So what happened to her?" He asked again. Cooro didn't bother to answer this time, instead just turning away and hoping they'd let him leave. Of course they didn't though, Joe having reached forward and yanked the black haired boy back a bit forcefully by his shoulder.

Cooro's eyes widened. Out of no where, all he could see was fire. It was everywhere and he had no idea where it came from or how. The could feel the almost completely healed hand burn hotter then he'd ever imagined. Screaming, he tore away from the grip oh his shoulder and was back in the school yard. No more fire, no more burns. Just those three arrogant buffoons scoffing at him.

"If that scares ya, just wait for what's gonna happen next" Joe sneered, cracking his knuckles. Cooro squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want this. Not now, not when his entire life was being thrown upside down and in a blender.

A second later the black haired boy heard someone yell, although it wasn't himself. Opening his eyes a bit, the only thing he could see through the slit was red. It wasn't like a blood red or anything though, more like an orange-ish color, actually. Opening them all the way, he saw it was hair, tied back in a short pony tail. Blinking a few times, he almost didn't register who it was.

"Keane?" He asked, a bit of his confusion sounding in his voice. Husky's half-brother was standing in front of him, his hand still clenched in a fist, and Joe on the ground, holding the side of his face. Selim and Tyler looked nearly as surprised as the ebony haired boy felt.

"You okay?" The ginger asked, and Cooro nodded. He hadn't gotten any real chances to talk to Keane much in the past few days, and this was the first time anybody other then Husky or a teacher had stood up for him. Selim quickly recovered though, and Joe pushed himself off the ground, still rubbing his cheek softly.

"Who, exactly, are you?" The rich boy asked, speaking with as much authority as he could, which was quite a bit for a ten year old. Keane seemed to be able to speak with more, though.

"Keane Turner Sandori. Now, I advise you to leave my little brother's friend alone, unless you want to end up like you sore faced friend there," the red head said, a rather annoyed sound to his voice. Selim didn't appear shaken or anything though, simply shrugging and turned around.

"I never did anything to him. Well, farewell, for now," The rich boy walked away, as always followed by the two cronies. After they were out of sight, Keane turned towards the black haired boy standing next to him.

"Well, those guys were jerks," The ginger said, a much more relaxed tone to his voice then before. Cooro couldn't help but smile as he nodded. "So, how's Myrrah?"

"Fine, a lot better, actually. Thanks for helping me," the eleven year old thanked him, and Keane shrugged as the two began walking towards their homes.

"No problem. You don't deserve to be beat on like that, but those three on the other hand," The red head said, and Cooro chucked a bit. Soon the two boys were stopped outside of the little church.

"Wanna come in and see Husky for a bit?" The ebony haired boy asked, and Keane looked much more nervous then he did facing the bullies, but managed to nod none the less. "Okay then, he should be in my room," Cooro said, and began leading the other boy to the back entrance of the church and up to his room.

"Husky! I'm home, and Keane's here too!" The eleven year old called as he ran up the stares, Keane following a bit more slowly.

"Oh? Hey Keane," Husky greeted, sounding a bit surprised. The red head gave his half brother a nervous wave. "How's everything been?" Husky asked hesitantly. Keane shrugged, trying to look like that nothing had happened and everything was perfectly normal, although Cooro would most likely never suggest for the ginger to take up a career in acting anytime soon.

"It's fine. Dad hasn't noticed anything yet, I think. Well, he actually did asked where you were yesterday, but I just said at a friends house," Keane explained, and the silver boy looked genuinely surprised at this. Cooro wasn't sure what the deal was when it came to the brother's dad, but it didn't seem like he paid them much attention. The black haired boy could almost swear he heard a bit of jealously in the red head's voice when he said their father asked about Husky.

"Seriously? Didn't expect that one," Husky said, an awkward silence then filling over the room, all three boys thinking about the same subject, but none wanting to be the one to bring it up. Finally, Keane let out a sigh, shoving his hands into his pants pockets.

"So, when are you gonna go to the police?" The red head asked bluntly, surprising the other two quite a bit.

"What? I mean, I donno. I don't have to go to the police," Husky said, mumbling almost all of it. He didn't want to be the one to take Keane's mom away. Even if she wasn't dead, he knew just how bad it would feel. The oldest boy shook his head though.

"Yes, you do. She tried to… She tried to kill you, Myrrah, and I know what you're thinking and it doesn't matter, okay. What she did… It was just wrong, okay," Keane told his brother firmly. He had much more strength then he let on, apparently.

Looking between the two, Cooro couldn't help but notice that, appearance wise, they were total opposites. Like fire and water. When it came to their personalities, they were much more alike. That's how everyone was able to tell they were brothers, when it came down to it. Husky stared at him a bit, before nodding just slightly.

"Alright… I will, but not now. I still have some stuff I need to figure out first, I think. Plus, I don't think I can stand a questioning or courtrooms yet," the silver boy conceded. Keane smiled a bit and nodded, although it was obvious that he wasn't happy about the prospect of his mother going to jail. Not in the least.

"G-good, I better get going though. Anything you want from the house? I could bring it over tomorrow if that's good," Keane asked, and Cooro thought Husky would ask for the medicine he'd apparently forgotten, but the skinny boy shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks though, really…" Husky mumbled, pushing on the rug with his toe. It was obvious that he was thanking him for more then just offering to bring him things from home.

"It's no problem. Well, see ya, I guess," The red head said, and turned to leave. Cooro sat up and waved before he could get out the door, though.

"Bye Keane, and thanks again for earlier," The black haired boy called, the first time he'd actually spoken since he came into the room. Keane nodded and smiled at the slightly younger boy.

"Don't worry about it. That was nothing. Well, bye," And with that, the ginger shut the door and made his way out of the church. There was nearly a minute of pure silence before Husky sighed loudly and plopped down on Cooro's bed. Well, it was part Cooro's bed, part Husky's now. The two had started a while ago taking turns between the bed and the sleeping bag.

"So, what Keane help you with?" Husky asked, staring up at the ceiling. The addressed boy gave a nervous laugh, and Husky glanced in his direction, although not fully turning himself around.

"Well, Selim thought it was a good day to try to mess with me, but Keane came and punched Joe in the face before they could actually do anything, and they left," Cooro explained. The silver boy was up on his elbows now, a rather peeved look on his face.

"Damn, I hate those kids," He grumbled before plopping back down on his back. The black haired boy laughed before nodding in agreement. "You're okay though?" Husky asked, and Cooro gave another nod. "Good, I guess I'll have to thank Keane for that too. For once he punches someone in the face and not only do I have to thank him, but I'm actually pretty happy about it," He mumbled, and Cooro just smiled. Yeah, they were definitely brothers.

The next day was Saturday, and both boys were happy for the day off, just lounging around the room, neither planning on actually doing anything. Life was too stressful lately to be doing things, although the stress was actually making it a bit difficult to just do nothing, too.

"Cooro, Husky, visitor!" Mother Superior called. She'd gotten into the habit of calling Husky's came along with the black haired boy's, although he was still getting used to that.

"We're up here!" Cooro yelled back, not wishing to move from his currant doodling. They heard footsteps heading up the stairs, and both assumed it was probably Keane.

"Hi guys!" Nana said happily, walking into the room. Cooro swirled around in his chair to face the girl, and Husky groaned. Nana quickly stuck her tongue out at the silver boy, and he rolled his eyes. Cooro just grinned at the two friends.

"Hi Nana, what's up?" He asked, and the brown haired girl turned away from Husky, who was sitting on the bed, to face him.

"Not much, just wanted to see how you two were doing," She said, and Cooro nodded. He knew she was worried about them, and started to feel guilty again about keeping secrets from her.

The three started talking and hanging out, actually like normal kids for once. Ironically that was when Cooro suddenly realized that none of them were normal. Definitely not Husky or Senri, for obvious reason, but not even himself or Nana.

Cooro blinked, and suddenly, the Nana in front of him, well, she changed. Her clothes had completely changed styles, but beyond that they were burnt and scorched and dirty. She also no longer had the happy expression she worn a moment ago, but panicked. Probably the most major and noticeable change was the huge pair of black wings, kind of like a bat's, that sprouted from behind her back, and her ears were no longer normal human ears, but elongated cone shapes. Before even a second went by, he blinked again and it was all gone.

"Yo, Cooro, you okay?" Husky asked, staring at the black haired boy with a concerned look on his face, with Nana wearing one almost identical. Trying to suppress this latest, vision, he guessed he could call it, Cooro smiled and nodded at the two.

"Yep, just kinda spaced out for a second there," he said happily. Nana and Husky glanced at each other, neither one quite believing their black haired friend, but they didn't want to force anything from him either.

"If you say so," was all Husky said on the matter, but the look he was giving the eleven year old said 'you are telling me what's wrong the second Nana leaves, got it?' About an hour later, Nana did just that.

"So, what's wrong?" Husky asked once he heard the church door close. Cooro simply smiled and shrugged.

"Nothing's wrong, really," the black haired boy told his friend. He didn't want to tell Husky he'd started seeing and hearing things now. The silver boy was already so stressed as it was, and Cooro was sure if he tried to explain it to anyone it would just sound like he was developing schizophrenia, which he very well might have been. Husky stared at him skeptically before finally nodding.

"Alright, if you say so," He said once more, and Cooro was glad that the subject was finally dropped. It didn't come up again until right before they were going to bed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" The silver boy asked, glancing down at his friend. It was his turn to use the bed, so Cooro was on the ground in the sleeping bag. The ebony haired boy nodded happily.

"I'm fine. Good night!" The eleven year old said, laying his head down and closing his eyes. Husky didn't move for a moment, staring at the boy on the floor. For having so much energy during the day, he could get to sleep in the blink of an eye. Closing his own eyes, Husky turned over on the bed. He wasn't sure why, but he had a bad feeling. He didn't want Cooro to go to sleep, but it was already too late for that. He couldn't wake him up either, he'd sound like a paranoid freak.

He really, really wished he could though, because no matter how hard he tried, the silver boy could not shake the feeling that tonight would be anything but a good night.

* * *

Oh, cliffhanger! I think... Once again, sorry for the obnoxiously long wait. It's here now, and I finished it on my birthday too. Think of it as my present to all of you.

Oh, by the way, I'm starting to feel really stupid about calling Selim by that name. I wrote this before I ever had any plans to make any new FMA fics, so I didn't expect to do a story about the real Selim. Ah well, too lazy to go change it now.

Well, please review. Thank you.


	20. Chapter 20

Hello all. We're finally at twenty chapters, huh? I feel like I started this so long ago, but I'm still very pleased with it. Sorry for the little wait on this chapter, schools and stuff, you know the drill. Not to mention I started another plus anima story, but that should hopefully not interfere with this one too much if at all.

Oh, and a bit of a warning for this chapter too (Hadn't realized exactly what chapter it was before looking it over) this chapter gets a bit… scary? Angsty? Bloody? The reason for the T rating? Yes. I'm actually a bit surprised at myself for writing it, although it's pivotal to the plot so yeah…

(after reading this chapter over, remember past and yet to come events planned, I had to go and change this story's categories to Drama/Angst, instead of just drama.)

Anyways, on with the chapter, I hope I haven't deterred any of you from reading it.

Chapter 20

Running. No, not running. He was going as fast as he could, but his feet weren't even touching the ground. After a moment of confusion it became strangely clear to him how he was doing that, although despite wanting to, he couldn't actually turn around and check. It was like he had absolutely no control over his own body, and he most definitely did not enjoy that.

"Hurry!" Cooro yelled, although he wasn't sure why they were hurrying or who he was yelling to, but soon found out when he glanced back to see Nana not far behind him. She looked exactly like she had during that flash in his room. Scared, scorched, and part bat. He also caught a glimpse of large, ebony wings beating frantically directly behind him. They were obviously his, and he would have been amazed if he wasn't so terrified.

The black haired boy had no idea where they were or what was going on, save for that the building they were racing through was currently on fire, and he was almost positive they were being chased. This fact led to some extreme confusion and wishing so very much to yell at himself when his body decided on it's own to stop in it's tracks. Nana doing the job for him was rather appreciated, although what he said was definitely unexpected. Which was strange, seeing as he said it himself.

"S-senri… and Husky… I c-can't… I can't sense them anymore…" he sounded completely devastated to even himself. He didn't think he'd ever sounded that… _pathetic_, in his life, and yet he had no idea what in the world he said actually meant! Husky and Senri were in this place too? Whatever he had meant though, Nana didn't seem to notice whatever horrible undertone he had, most likely do to her own panic stricken mind.

"Good! Maybe they found a way out! Now let's hurry and leave too!" The brown haired girl said as firmly as she could, still glancing around in fear at the growing fire though. Without another word, she started down the corridor on her wings. Cooro felt himself gulp and shake his head.

"That's not what happened…" he heard himself whisper shakily and felt tears beginning to form in his eyes before speeding off after Nana. She hadn't heard him and he didn't know what he meant. Whatever his body knew, he was glad he was oblivious about. Well maybe not clueless, but he could pretend. So far, he was terrified and just wanted to get out of there. He wanted to have control over his body again, and he wanted to be able to ignore the tears falling almost freely from his eyes and the growing sensation of dread in the pit of his stomach.

"In here!" Nana yelled, pushing a door in front of her open and heading into the room. They had reached the end of the hallway and there wasn't any other place for them to go and he could hear whoever was pursuing them get closer and closer. Cooro felt himself fly into the room and land next to the brunette, confused as to why she was now the one to stop. He turned towards her, pretty sure what he was going to ask even without control of his body, although after actually seeing her, he felt his voice stall in his throat. She looked absolutely horrified, and Cooro almost instantly turned to see whatever it was she was gapping at.

The first thing to come to his mind was 'hey, it's the room from my drawling' not, 'Oh my god! Husky and Senri are lying in the corner all bloody and, and…' his stupid, stupid picture. That quickly became what he was actually thinking though, and if he'd had control of his body, he would have been frozen anyway.

Somewhere in the sides of his mind, he wondered what the Cooro who was in control was thinking. He had known, somehow, that this had happened and he could feel the tears falling harder the ever, but he didn't make any move to stop them.

He was only slightly brought out of his trauma induced trance when the hooded cloak like item that Husky was wearing, which would have been a very nice grey color had it not been stained all over with red, was caught in the spreading flames. Cooro wanted to help, to stop the fire from consuming them, but he couldn't move, and had no water, and no other way to stop it. It didn't even matter anyway, he realized with a sudden pang. They were already gone.

Whoever was in control of his body wasn't thinking the same thing, apparently, as Cooro felt himself run over, to distraught to even think to fly probably, and began to beat the fire with his bare hands. He vaguely heard Nana yell something, but couldn't concentrate enough to actually tell what. His hands hurt so bad, along with everything else. The feathers that went up his arms and on his wings were on fire, but the Cooro in control didn't even seem to notice, just continuing to pound at the ever growing flames. He could barely see through the smoke and tears, but was actually glad about that. He didn't want to see Husky so pale and lifeless, not at all. The flames had made their way over to Senri now, and Cooro felt his body try desperately to try and stop the flames on both boys to no avail.

A bloodcurdling scream broke both his mind and the Cooro in control out of it. He recognized that scream. It was the same one from when he'd passed out, and now felt stupid for not realizing who it was.

Nana was standing in the corner in the other side of the room. In her hands was a bloody staff, he knew she hadn't had it on her before, but she quickly dropped it. There were several men around her, and Cooro wondered slightly just how long had be been beating the fire, but the main thing that stuck in his mind was the long, sickle like blade that was stuck in the brown haired girl's side. He was completely frozen yet again as he watched her fall to the floor and a man calmly walk up and pull the blade out, not appearing sad in the least for murdering a kid not even in her teens. The group turned towards him, all appearing angry and hateful.

"You're the only one left," the one with the sickle said. The black haired boy felt his eyes close. He was so scared. He was going to die. He didn't want to die. Not like this. Not now.

"They're gone…" Cooro wished he could open his eyes, but once again his body wouldn't comply. He knew he had been the one to say that, but he didn't sound scared, or sad, or anything. Just numb, and that only served to terrify him even more.

"They're gone," He heard himself repeat and opened his eyes. The men in front of him had stopped in their advance and were momentarily staring at him. "You killed them, they're all gone…" the numbness was beginning to leave, and tears starting to fall from his eyes again. He didn't remember when they'd stopped, but it didn't really matter. "You killed them. You k-killed my friends… M-my friends… you killed them all, _you monsters killed them_!" he was yelling now, which felt so foreign to him, he never yelled , and Cooro could feel the angry fire almost completely consume his wings. If he ever escaped this place, he'd never fly again, although the if didn't matter, he wasn't going to get out.

He had no idea how his body was able to ignore the pain from his scorched hands enough to actually reached behind his back and grab the handle of something, but it did. The person in control stood up, and the black haired boy was a bit amazed that he actually had the strength, the fire was everywhere now. Cooro suddenly realized that whoever it was simply didn't care anymore. He had stopped caring the second his friends were gone.

The men in front of him backed up in what seemed to be fear. Cooro knew he must be quite a sight. On fire with huge black wings, crying, covered in his friends' blood, as well as some of his own, he was sure, and holding a small hatchet. It was the hatchet from his picture, but he really, really didn't care about that right now. The black haired boy felt his grip tighten painfully on the handle. He snapped.

He was lying on the floor. Just… lying there. It was dark, and nothing hurt at all. There was no fire, no blood, he clenched his hands, no hatchet and he was back in control. Sitting up in his sleeping bag numbly, Cooro suddenly started to cry harder then he could ever remember doing before.

"Urg, what the? Cooro?" Husky mumbled after sitting up dazedly, rubbing his eyes a bit and trying to see through the darkness. The black haired boy was too hysterical to actually say anything though, and just shook his head and continued to cry. "Cooro, tell me what's wrong," the silver boy commanded and turned on the bedside lamp.

Husky couldn't do anything but stare for a full minute, just sitting there, not really able to comprehend what he saw. "Oh my! Holy shit! Cooro!" he yelled, and was off the bed in a flash after that. "What the hell happened! Cooro?"

The black haired boy shook his head again. He was trying to stop the tears, it just wasn't going so well. "Cooro, hold your breath and count backwards from ten," Husky commanded, and Cooro did what he was told, not quite sure why he was being told to though. Whatever Husky had thought it would do must of worked a bit though, for when he let his breath out, despite the tears still falling slightly and the hiccups, the black haired boy's breathing had evened out considerably.

"Now, tell me what happened," Husky said again, trying his best to try and sound as calm as he could and not stare at the huge black wings protruding from his friend's back.

"I-I was with N-nana and we were, we were flying but you and Senri were dead and I don't want you dead and then Nana died too and please don't die I don't want you to die!" He was crying again, and Husky had no idea what to do. He was never good with crying people.

"H-hey, it's okay? I'm not dead, see? Cooro?" Husky asked, putting a hand on his friends shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, although it only made the black haired boy wrap his arms around Husky's waist and cry into his shirt. The silver boy felt his face go red. He was never good with any kind of physical contact either.

Once he'd gotten over the shock of the surprise hug, he started to awkwardly rub the distraught boy's back, making sure to avoid the wings. He'd just noticed that the arms currently squeezing him to death were covered in feathers as well. They felt strange.

"I-it's okay just calm down. I'm not dead, Senri and Nana are safe at their homes, it's okay," Husky said, taking a second attempt at some level of comfort. He wished he could just yell and that would get him to stop crying. He knew it wouldn't though, he'd already tried that with crying babies. It only makes it worse.

His actual attempt seemed to be working though, as the black haired boy pulled away and started rubbing at his eyes, nodding slightly. It took another fifteen minutes before Husky felt it was safe to talk again, and the entire time he was panicking trying to figure out what had caused the happy boy to end up like this. A dream couldn't be that scary, could it?

"So, are you okay now?" The silver boy asked cautiously. Cooro sniffled just a tiny bit before nodding weakly.

"Y-yeah. I'm sorry, I guess I kind of lost control," the black haired boy said, smiling weakly. Husky nodded before sighing quietly. It really was a wonder that old nun hadn't woken up yet. She must sleep like a rock.

"So I take it you had a bad dream?" Husky asked, and Cooro nodded, looking a bit embarrassed now. The silver haired boy suddenly realized that his friend was probably completely oblivious to the huge wings he was now in possession of and became afraid that he would have to be the one to break the news to the already distraught boy.

"Yeah but, it just seemed so real. I could feel everything," Cooro mumbled, but then quickly shook his head. "Sorry, it must sound stupid, you can't feel anything in a dream," the ebony haired boy apologized, but Husky shook his head.

"No, it's not stupid…" the silver boy wasn't sure if he should go on with the next part. He'd never told anyone about his dreams, but it didn't seem like any good would come out of not telling him. There probably wasn't any link, it was insane. Thinking though, his entire life was insane right now, so that meant there probably was, actually.

"I've…I've had dreams like that too," He started, and Cooro turned from the corner he'd been staring at back to his friend, a bit of shock on his face. "There's one dream, where I'm drowning, and it was before… you know, but when it actually happened, for a second I thought it was just my dream again, because it was always so real…" Cooro didn't look like he knew what to say, so Husky decided to change the subject slightly and try to get something over with as quickly as he could. "A-anyway, I think we should go and see Nana tomorrow, if you feel up to it, at least."

"Nana? Why?" The black haired boy asked, looking rather confused at his friend's sudden change of subject and desire to see someone who he usually pretended to want to avoid. His question only caused Husky to sight though. So he really hadn't noticed yet. Well, this was going to be interesting, to say the least.

"Um, well, don't freak out, but to put it bluntly… You have a huge pair of wings growing out of your back," Husky said quickly, closing his eyes and preparing for the worst. When he didn't hear anything though, the silver boy opened his eyes slowly, wondering if maybe he fainted or something.

Cooro looked pretty calm though, just kind of staring at his wings before beating them a few times. It was definitely different from the reaction he'd had, but the silver boy realized that he must have been expecting this for a while now. It was strange, it looked so natural to him, Husky wasn't very worried anymore. The black haired boy turned back towards him, smiling just slightly, although it looked a little strange with the stains from his tears still very clear on his face.

"Yeah, we should warn Nana," Cooro agreed before beating his wings again, still trying to get used to them. "I want to fly," He mumbled absently, and Husky quickly glanced around the room. He didn't think the ceiling would be high enough to actually fly, and didn't think it would be a good idea if people saw his friend or risk anything else happening this late at night. It was dangerous outside after sundown, and that was something he wasn't going to forget anytime soon.

"Where? The ceilings not high enough, and it's too dangerous outside," Husky told him, and Cooro nodded, looking a bit disappointed. The silver boy suddenly remembered something from when Cooro had been ranting before he started to cry again. "Hey, you said you and Nana had been flying, did you have wings in your dream too?" Husky asked, and the black haired boy's expression became much less joyous, and he almost instantly regretted bringing the dream back up.

"Yeah, but I have wings in almost all of my dreams that feel real," Cooro explained. Although he didn't seem to take much notice of this, it caught Husky's attention. He'd had more dreams that felt real, and he had wings in them?

"You've had dreams like this before? That are different, I mean." the silver boy asked. His mind wandered to the only other dream that had the same strange feel to it. If Cooro had multiple dreams like this too, did that mean something? Husky wasn't sure if he wanted the answer to be yes or no. Cooro nodded.

"Yeah, not many though. The last one I had, I was standing on some weird table thing on a hill, with birds everywhere. I had wings in that dream too, but they weren't mine or something, I don't know. Well, I tried to fly away, but some people stopped me. I didn't see who they were, but one of them grabbed my arm, and well, I didn't hear the whole thing, but he said something like, 'you own us that much,' weird, huh?" Cooro explained his dream, partially in an attempt to keep his mind off his other one, but became concerned when he saw his friend's pale face. "Husky, what's wrong?"

"It's n-nothing, just… I had the same dream," The silver boy mumbled, and Cooro's eyes widened. He hadn't expected that. "Well, it was a little different. I mean, I was one of the people, but I saw you on the hill. I didn't hear anything that I said though, but I'm pretty sure I know who the other two are now," Husky said, and Cooro nodded. Now that he knew Husky was the one that grabbed him, and feeling a bit stupid for not being able to place someone's voice for the second time, he knew exactly who the other two were.

"So, we go see Nana tomorrow?" The black haired boy asked, and Husky nodded.

"Stupid girl better not blab to everyone," he grumbled, and Cooro laughed. At least Husky could still act normal.

"She wont!" The eleven year old said confidently, and Husky crossed his arms, rolling his eyes, although Cooro could still see that the silver boy was smiling, just slightly.

* * *

Hurray, finally done it it's nearly five in the morning. I had a lot of stuff I needed to do too. Happy? Anyway, it was actually really hard for me to write some of this chapter. Not only was it sad and done to a group of absolutely adorable children, I was afraid as to how you all would take all the blood and death and angst at the beginning of this. I hope I didn't scare off too many of you.

Well, please review, if you don't hate me, that is.


	21. Chapter 21

Hi y'all. The one thing I don't like about this story is that it takes forever to type up the chapters because they're so long and I do so much editing from the original copy. It's okay though, because if I didn't like it to some degree I wouldn't be writing. Well, I don't have much to say today, although I always end up thinking of things when I'm writing, but forget once I finally finish.

Oh, something before I forget. japaneserockergirl, if you still want to, I'd love for you to beta this story, I just can't figure out how to get it to you. If anybody knows how, feel free to explain.

Chapter 21

"Do you know where Nana lives?" Husky asked as the two boys left the church the next morning. After around an hour of silently trying to calm themselves down, for different reasons, they had been able to fall into a rather unsound sleep. Cooro shook his head.

"Nope, do you have any idea where she might be?" The ebony hair boy asked. He was already much more cheerful then the night before, although he kept glancing down at his shoulder, although they were covered do to the chilling fall weather. His energy caught the younger boy slightly off guard. To him it was just another thing that proved his friend was not what he put off to be, hidden psychic powered and bird appendages excluded.

"We could try that one park by here, that's where I met her, at least," The silver boy suggested, and the two started off in that direction, neither having any better clue as to where she could be. It suddenly occurred to Cooro that, besides the fact that Husky ended up being hit in the face with a volleyball, he really had no idea how two of his best friends had met each other.

"So, how'd you and Nana meet anyway?" the eleven year old asked, receiving only a look of confusion for a second. Husky quickly came out of his own thoughts enough to let the question register and managed to do his trademark arm cross and huff.

"Stupid girl hit me in the face with a volleyball then followed me all the way home demanding I accept her apology," he explained, grumbling. Cooro simply laughed though.

"Did you?" he asked, a smile still on his face. The silver haired boy snorted.

"Of course not," the ebony haired boy laughed even harder at that, much to his friend's displeasure. It was impossible to just not think typical Husky.

In no time the two made it to the park, almost instantly relieved at the sight of the brown haired girl they were searching for walking along the dirt path. Husky also noticed a few of the girls he was pretty sure were with her the first day they met, the ones she left in favor of chasing after him, but she wasn't anywhere near them. Whatever though, stupid girl problems weren't any of his business.

"Hi Nana!" Cooro yelled from behind, startling the girl and nearly making her trip. As soon as she was over her shock she turned on her heals towards them.

"Cooro! Husky! Don't sneak up on me like that! Well, anyway, what are you two doing here?" she asked once done yelling. Any thought of this being a carefree meeting was quickly wiped from her mind at the serious and rather nervous looks the two boys suddenly gained.

"Um, well, we were wondering if you could come back to my house. If you weren't doing anything?" The black haired boy asked. The brunette nodded almost instantly, although she was already worried as to what exactly she was getting herself into.

"Sure, but why? Is something happening?" She inquired, sincerely hoping they would just straight up tell her exactly what it was, although that wasn't exactly the case. Cooro put on a rather cheerful smile, completely contradicting his earlier expression.

"It's a secrete!' the black haired boy announced, and Husky nodded in agreement, although he looked a bit lost in thought, and no where near as joyful, although he almost never was. When he came out of his little trance though, he still wasn't anywhere near happy.

"That's right, so you better not go blabbing to everyone, because we don't need to tell you," He demanded, although you could hear quite a bit of worry though the anger he was trying to portray. Cooro started to pout at the silver haired boy, however.

"C'mon Husky, yes we do! Nana's gonna get wrapped up into this too, and she deserves a warning," The black haired boy defended, and Husky simply crossed his arms in a sort of mock protest. Nana let out a huffed before storming ahead of the two boys.

"I wont blab! Now let's get going so you can tell me what this is all about already!" the brown haired girl commanded, and Cooro nodded before following happily. Husky simply shook his head before continuing, still not entirely comfortable with both their plan and his brown eyed friend's cheerful mask.

Once they made it to the church they went straight up to the black haired boy's room. Nana turned towards the two after the door had been closed. "Alright, so what is all this about?" She asked. The two boys turned towards each other, neither looking like they wished to be the one to actually say whatever it is they needed to, but finally Cooro cleared his throat to speak.

"Well, you probably wont believe us at first, but I'm a crow, and Husky's a fish, we think you're gonna turn into a bat, so we brought you here to warn you," the eleven year old said, an actual tone of seriousness to his voice. The green eyed girl glanced back and forth between her two friends before she burst out in laughter.

"Urg! I told you that wouldn't work!" Husky yelled, and the black haired boy looked a bit saddened at the current situation.

"It could of!" He defended, although it only succeeded in making the silver boy roll his eyes. Nana on the other hand was completely ignoring this exchange in favor of catching her breath.

"Okay guys, real funny. I guess it is pretty close to Halloween, well, if it isn't anything then I really should get going," She said, still giggling a bit as she headed towards the door. She had to stop though when Cooro blocked her way.

"No! You can't leave yet! We're not joking, tell her Husky!" he pleaded, still in front of the door. Nana turned around to face the addressed boy, who suddenly looked rather nervous.

"Um, well, what Cooro said was true, but uh, not how he said it. What I mean is we're not actually animals, just part and well you may be stupid but there is no way you're buying this," He rambled, getting glared at for the last part quite harshly.

"I'm not stupid! But you are right when you said I wasn't buying this. Seriously, there's no such thing as animal people, even if Husky does look like a mermaid," She said, smirking slightly at her last remark. While Cooro seemed more downhearted with the fact she didn't believe them, Husky just seemed preoccupied with the insult.

"I do not look like a mermaid! And I'm not one either, but we are telling the truth! Show her Cooro!" the silver boy yelled, crossing his arms. The eleven year old didn't look so sure, though.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" He asked, and Husky nodded. "Alright then," Nana simply raised her eyebrow in confusion, not really sure what the two were planning.

"What are you two going to do?" she asked, although she didn't get any answer she had expected. Black feathers began to run down the boy in front of her arms and a pair of ebony wings began to sprout out of his back, growing quickly until they were sprawled out behind him. Nana's mouth just opened and closed like a dying fish in her attempt to actually make words. "Y-you… y-you have…" she stammered, and Cooro simply shrugged, a bit embarrassed.

"Boo!" The silver boy yelled from behind, pushing her just slightly. She was on the floor unconscious before anyone could say anything else.

"Husky! That wasn't nice!" Cooro yelled, but his friend couldn't really hide his smirk as he apologized.

"Sorry, it was too perfect. She'll wake up soon, it's a carpet," The black haired boy just sighed and sat on the bed, not entirely sure if he should move the unconscious girl or not. The blue eyed boy did end up putting a pillow under her head, which, although not making up for making her faint, was kind of nice seeing as who it was coming from.

After about ten minutes she finally started to rise. "Urg, what happened?" she asked, rubbing her head slightly and glancing around the room.

"Husky snuck up behind you and yelled, so you fainted," Cooro explained, casting a disapproving glance at the silver haired boy, who was starting to look a little more sorry for his actions then before. Nana sent her own glare towards him, which he tried to just shrug off. She simply shook her head though, she couldn't remember what had scared her so much initially. It wasn't Husky, something they wanted to show her though? She glanced over at Cooro, and although she didn't need to remember what happened anymore, she did, and started to scream.

"You're an angel! Oh my! That's why you live in a church!" she yelled, scooting away from the winged boy on the bed. Husky sighed and hit himself on the forehead, although in his mind he had to admit that was a pretty clever, if not completely incorrect connection to make.

"Would you be quiet! Cooro's not an angel! Put your wings away so she'll stop freaking," the silver boy commanded, and Cooro did as told. Nana did stop screaming, although she still looked frightened and now very confused.

"Okay, okay… You two explain what is going on right now," the brown haired girl commanded, and the boys glanced at each other yet again, neither quite sure where would be the best place to begin.

"Well, let's see," Cooro began, "it happened to Husky first," he didn't get any father though, the silver boy already shaking his head in disagreement. "What?" The black haired boy asked, not really sure what his friend meant.

"It happened to Senri first, not me. Remember?" Husky corrected, and the ebony boy nodded, having nearly forgotten about having to explain about Senri as well. Nana was just shaking her head though, still obviously confused and wishing that none of this was happening.

"Wait, so that talk guy is like this too? The one who was here that day?" She asked, and the two boys nodded.

"Yep, he's a bear, we think… Well anyway, it happened to Senri first, although we don't know how, cause he doesn't remember, and then Husky, and I got my wings last night, but we wanted to warn you, cause we think you might be next, and it's pretty scary when it come out of the blue," The black haired boy explained, but it seemed to be doing anything but sooth Nana.

"Me? Why me! She yelled, only causing Husky to sigh again, not appearing very outwardly concerned for his distraught friend. He didn't try to show a lot of emotions outwardly, though.

"Thank goodness that old nun isn't here, or she would have been up here ages ago with all this yelling," The silver boy complained, and Cooro sent him a frown.

"C'mon Husky be nice, you were scared too. Well, we think it might be you because, well, me and Husky had these dreams, and well, you remember that origami I gave you a while ago? That might have something to do with it too…" The black haired boy mumbled the last part. Nana nodded though, despite a look of complete skepticism on her face.

"Origami? You think I'm gonna turn into a bat creature because of origami and some freaky dreams? You guys can't be serious," the brown haired girl asked in disbelief. Cooro didn't answer, feeling pretty stupid when it was put that way, so Husky did.

"We are serious. This isn't some random drop of the hat we're dealing with here. We all, at least Cooro and I, had warning signs. Hell, Cooro was even able to predict exactly what animal Senri, myself, him and even you are gonna turn into. You don't have to believe us, but it's going to happen, so we warned you," The silver haired boy finished, crossing his arms. Nana simply stared at him, not entirely sure what she should say after that.

"I-I guess you guys do have a point, but what warnings? And what are these dreams you keep talking about? And how is this all even possible?" Nana said, beginning to bombard them with questions. The two boys glanced at each other again. At least she was going to listen now.

"Have you ever had a dream that felt really, really real and was probably scary?" Cooro asked. The brown hared girl started at her feet for a bit before finally answering.

"…I'm being chased in a dark forest at night and I can't see anything. Then I trip and before the person catches up with me a…" she started to explain before trailing off. Husky raised an eyebrow at this.

"A 'what,'" the silver boy prompted, causing the brown haired girl to blink and shake her head, a look of disbelief of her face.

"A bat flies in front of me, and then I always wake up…" She finished, before looking at the two boys. "How did you know it was a bat?" Husky simply shrugged at the question.

"Wasn't me," He said before gabbing his thumb at Cooro, "he's the one who can see the future," The black haired boy scratched the back of his head, laughing nervously.

"I'm not really seeing the future, just… a lucky guess?" he said, still laughing a bit. Husky simply rolled his eyes, and was probably about to say something before Nana interrupted with another question.

"What were your dreams?" Cooro started to twiddle his thumbs a bit, although out of the corner of his eye he saw Husky almost absentmindedly grab the blue blanket off the floor. That wasn't a good sign, he better talk first.

"Well, in my one dream, and Husky had this one too by the way, weird huh? Well, anyway, I was standing on a hill, and I had wings like now, and I was about to fly away, but for some reason that was a bad thing, but then you guys, you two and Senri came and saved me at the last minute, and the dream I had last night, before I got my wings… Well, it was pretty scary, and you all kind of…died…" the black haired boy explained, leaving out quite a bit of information, in reality almost everything, on the second one. What he did say though was still enough to cause Nana to gasp in shock.

"Die! I don't want to die!" She yelled, and Husky threw a pillow in her direction. He missed on purpose, but it still did as he hoped and made her stop.

"You're not going to die! We still don't know what some of these dreams mean. Like Cooro said, I had the same dream as him, the hill one, only from my perspective. We don't know what's going on by a long shot, but we have to stay calm, understand?" Husky commanded, and the brown haired girl nodded.

"A-alright, but how did this happen? I mean, what happened when you first became part animal?" She asked again, and Cooro saw the silver boy's grip on the blanket tighten ever so slightly.

"After I woke up from my dream last night, the wings were just kind of there," The black haired boy explained. Nana turned towards Husky, waiting for his explanation. Cooro could tell he didn't want to start reliving it in the least, and was about to say it himself, but was beat to it.

"I almost drowned…" he mumbled, although the brown haired girl didn't seem to hear him, cocking her head to the side.

"What did you say?" She asked, although Husky continued to stare at the floor and not meet anyone's eyes. Cooro wasn't even sure if it was a good idea for even him to say anything, or what he could say, and if he should say something, what would cause the least amount of damage? Nana could feel the awkwardness and suddenly wondered if she really wanted to know what had happened. Maybe she could just ask Cooro later.

"I almost drowned, okay?" Husky said, louder this time, and the brunette nodded, almost instantly realizing when he became part fish. The black haired boy decided that now would be a great time to change the subject.

"Oh yeah, that's not a tattoo!" He said happily, taking any attention off of the silver boy and onto himself. Nana just gave him a very confused stare though, and even Husky looked baffled, so he decided it would probably be a good idea to get a little more specific. "Oh Husky's neck, it's not a tattoo."

"What? It's not? Then what is it?" The brown haired girl asked, and Husky just shrugged, starting to act more like his old self already.

"Donno, it just kind of showed up along with the powers. Cooro and Senri have one too, although their's are different shapes," the silver boy explained, and Cooro took off his hoodie in order to show the swirling marks in each of his shoulders. Nana just stared, the shock of everything clearly showing on her face.

"Well, this is a lot to take in…: The brunette said finally. Cooro gave a sympathetic smile before nodding.

"Yeah, but don't worry, it'll be okay. Though when you do get your powers, you should come and tell us, okay?" The black haired boy said reassuringly. Husky nodded in agreement before putting on his tough act again, arms crossed and everything.

"And remember what we said about not telling anyone. I don't want to end up getting dissected by some creepy scientists because you couldn't keep your mouth shut," The silver boy growled, and Nana glared right back, appearing to have regained some of her mental footing.

"I already said I won't tell!" She yelled before glancing at the clock hanging on the wall above their heads. "Oh shoot! It's six already? I gotta get going!" she said, looking around to see if she had brought anything, which she hadn't, "I'll talk to you guys tomorrow at school, and then we should all go see that Senri guy. Try and figure everything out, y'know?" the brown haired girl suggested, and the two boys nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. See you tomorrow," Cooro said happily, and the silver boy simply nodded.

"See ya," he said, and Nana gave the two a small half wave before leaving. Once they heard the back door close, Husky sighed loudly. "Well, that didn't go as bad as if could have," He said, leaning back in the desk chair, the blanket having fallen to the floor a while ago. Cooro nodded in agreement and smiled at his friend.

"I knew it would work out, you worry too much!" He said happily, but Husky only rolled his eyes in response. "Do you think you can go to school tomorrow?" The black haired boy asked, and Husky nodded. He wasn't entirely sure if he could handle it, but he couldn't hide away forever. The powers at be might start getting suspicious if he stayed away much longer, and would probably start to try and contact his dad or something, and with everything else going on, he could not deal with that right now.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," he said, and Cooro jumped off the bed happily.

"Good, well, we should go cook dinner!" He said happily, and Husky just stared, an expression close to fear on his face.

"You can cook?" He asked, clear skepticism in his voice. The black haired boy simply shrugged, which didn't do much to reassure the younger boy.

"Mother Superior will be gone for the night. C'mon, it'll be fun!" He said, already starting to drag the slightly unwilling boy towards the door. He glanced back at the room before sighing and coming along without being dragged.

"If you say so…" He mumbled. He had to admit though, cooking with Cooro did not sound boring, although almost nothing was now a days.

* * *

Tadaaa. Nana is now knowledgeable of the current mysterious events. Huzzah. I hope Husky didn't seem too out of character when he scared her, but all children have mischievous sides. Well, please review.


	22. Chapter 22

Hello everyone. Sorry for being late. I know, I know, no excuses, but most of the time when I tried to write for this story, I was going to write a little interlude chapter, just something happy and cute for once, y'know? But I kept going back and forth on actually doing it, and I didn't want to disappoint anyone who wanted an actual chapter after taking so long, so I will post little interlude, but as a separate one shot, so look for that in the upcoming future everyone.

I also have to give a thank you to everyone who's reviewed. 45 reviews so far makes me very happy and, combined with favs and alerts makes this my second most successful story, only behind one for a series with a much, much larger fan base to start off with.

Well, enough of my pointless ramble, on with the story.

Chapter 22

Husky and Cooro walked down the stares of the church Monday morning. "Hi Keane!" the black haired boy called, seeing the redhead waiting at the bottom of the stone steps.

"Hi Cooro, Myrrah," he mumbled, not looking up from the ground, and the two addressed boys glanced at each other before turning their attention back to the one in front of them. Up close, you could tell that he looked even worse then usual. The bags under his eyes were darker, his clothes were all wrinkled and he kept fidgeting and wouldn't look up from the ground. Husky let out a loud sigh and glared at his brother.

"What's up?" the silver boy asked, although less in a 'hey how are you doing' way, and much more in a 'tell me what's wrong right now' kind of way. Keane's head shot up at this, and he looked rather startled, as if he'd forgotten the other two boys were there. Finally he shook his head.

"Nothing… I just, haven't been sleeping too well," The ginger said, starting towards the school. His brother didn't budge though, just staring at Keane, his arms crossed agents his chest. Cooro sat down on the steps of the church. He knew Husky wasn't going to leave until he got whatever was bothering the red head out, and there was really no telling how long it would take for Keane to tell. He would either break right away, or take as long as he possibly could.

"Why can't you sleep? How's everything at the house?" the silver boy asked, not letting the redhead take any chances of changing the subject.

"No reason. Nothing, I mean, it's just nothing," He tried, but Husky didn't let up, showing no signs of moving. Hands fidgeting, Keane sighed and started up again. "Okay, it's just, mom's been acting really weird, well, even more then… yeah, and I'm just worried, for both of you…" the red head nearly whispered. Husky sighed again, although not angrily this time.

The black haired boy looked between the two brothers. This family really was a mystery to him. It was impossible to tell if the two had always been this close, or if it was just the recent stress, and despite becoming so close to the silver haired boy, he still had no clue as to why he'd moved in, or rather why he hadn't always lived with his family in the first place. Keane's mother was the center of all of this, but where was Husky's. He never mentioned her, and Cooro just wasn't one to pry.

"Look, you don't have to worry about me, I'm doing just fine. You can even tell her that if you think it will help, or just not mention me at all, whatever you think is best. I'm sure she'll be fine. Y'know I don't have to go to the police… I can just, I don't know, keep my distance," the silver boy suggested, only for Keane to shut it down.

"No, you know you have to, it's okay. I guess I will talk to her though, or something…" the red head said, and Husky just nodded. It was nearly silent the entire way to school, no one sure what to say next. When they reached the school, the oldest boy left without saying anything, his mind obviously somewhere else.

"Have you always been like this?" The black haired boy asked once he was out of sight. Husky blinked and looked over at him, confusion written all over his face.

"Been like what?" He asked.

"Like this close. With Keane, I mean. You two just seem to really care about each other under everything," Cooro explained. The silver boy simply stared at his friend before starting to laugh, which nearly shocked the poor eleven year old. He knew he had mood swings from happy to sad to serious all the time, but he wasn't used to the sort of thing from his friend.

"Me and Keane? Close? Not in a million years," the younger boy said, shaking his head and still chuckling a bit. Cooro just continued to stare, quickly glancing back to where Keane had been before turning back towards his friend.

"B-but, you two…" The black haired boy started, only to have Husky cut him off.

"We were never close. Hell, every time we saw each other at least one of us would come out with a black eye, if we were in a good mood," The silver boy said firmly, before glancing back to where the red head had been. "Although, I guess things have changed a bit between us since I moved in," he mumbled. Cooro smiled, he knew they were close, it just apparently wasn't until more recently.

The two boys were somehow able to make it to class a bit early, and Husky able to grab the work he'd missed.

"Are you feeling better? You've been out for a while," Ms. Brighton asked, and the silver boy just nodded and headed over to his desk before it could be added to the very dangerous looking stack some idiot was making. Looking around the room, it didn't surprise the slightly anti-social boy that he didn't know over half the kids in his class names. He didn't care though. He already had more then enough friends, if you asked him.

Sitting down next to Cooro, the silver boy half-heartedly paid attention to the lesson. Yeah, his grades were probably going to suffer a bit this year, but he'd make sure he passes at least. He was in fifth grade, it didn't matter if he got a few Cs and maybe a D or two, there was more important things on his mind. Finally the bell for lunch rang and the two boys went quickly to the lunchroom.

"Hi Nana!" Cooro greeted happily, sitting down across from the brown haired girl. Neither had been able to see her this morning, but Husky simply nodded at her as he sat down.

"So, how've you been?" She asked happily.

"Good," Cooro said, biting into his sandwich. No apple in his lunch today.

"Hungry…" the silver boy grumbled, not sounding all too happy about it.

"What's wrong with him?" Nana asked her black haired friend, jabbing her thumb in the grouchy looking boy's direction.

"Heheh, uh, we had a little mishap cooking dinner last night," Cooro explained sheepishly, although this wording only cause Husky to snort and roll his eyes.

"Little? I wont be able to wear that shirt ever again!" He growled, crossing his arms. Nana just giggled at the two. They could be rather amusing at times, after all.

"What did you end up eating?" The brown haired girl asked, trying to imagine what could of possibly happened to make a shirt unwearable. She didn't see any burns, and he didn't look in pain, so it probably didn't catch on fire.

"Apples," The two boys answered in unison, one sounding much happy about the fact then the other.

"So, are you two doing anything later today?" Nana asked. The black haired boy shook his head, and Husky simply shrugged. "Wanna go talk to that Senri guy? I mean, have you told him about everything yet?" She asked, and Cooro shook his head yet again.

"Not everything, we should though. I still need to tell him about my wings," the black haired boy said. Husky just nodded again. He wasn't used to the cafeteria, it was giving him a headache.

"Alright, then we go see him after school?" the green eyed girl suggested, and the two boys nodded just as the bell to head back to class rang out. "Okay, see you then," She called, walking off after throwing her trash away.

"See ya!" Cooro called back, and the silver boy waved slightly, rubbing his head from the pain caused by the ear splitting bell.

The rest of the day passed rather uneventfully, although the headache refused to go away. The ten year old decided he should just be glad it hadn't gotten any worse. Once class was over, the two boys waited for Nana outside. Keane had come up to them, but they explained they had plans.

"Sorry I took so long! My locker got stuck!" The brunette called as she ran up to them. Cooro said it was fine, but Husky just rolled his eyes.

"Your locker is defected or something," he grumbled, and Nana didn't outright disagree with him. This was a rather common thing for it to do, after all.

"So, where does he live?" she asked once they had started to leave the school grounds.

"Donno, but don't worry, we'll find him," The black haired boy said optimistically. Nana looked a bit skeptic, but Husky simply shrugged. He'd hadn't thought they would be able to just find him the first time either, but they had.

The three children walked around town for a bit before finally spotting the grey haired teen staring at a butterfly about to land on a bush. "Hi Senri!" Cooro called enthusiastically, and the eye patched teen turned towards them and smiled slightly.

"Senri, you know how you're a bear and Husky's a fish, right?" The black haired boy asked, and the teen nodded, glancing at Husky as he did so. "Well, the same thing happened to me, I'm a crow. Pretty cool, huh?" The eleven year old explained happily. Senri nodded again, not looking all too surprised, before turning towards the brown haired girl.

"Her…Too?" The quiet teen asked, causing the three children to be slightly taken back. They hadn't expected him to figure it out that quickly. They sure hadn't.

"Well, not yet, but we're pretty sure she's actually a bat," Cooro explained, and Senri nodded again to show he understood. Staring at the three children in front of him, the grey haired teen had a strange sort of de ja vu feeling. Now, that wasn't really unusual for him, but this was different. He knew he'd known the hyper black haired boy for a while, but he'd only met Husky recently, and he'd just met Nana. No, he had saw her that one day, in the church. Now, how had he remembered that? Something told him he shouldn't, for whatever reason.

"Senri? You okay?" Cooro asked. The older boy looked confused for a moment, but then nodded again.

"Are you sure you don't remember how you got your arm?" Husky asked, the first time he'd spoken in a while. The grey haired teen thought for a moment, before shaking his head sadly. "It's fine," The silver boy grumbled.

"So, what should we do know?" Nana asked. All four children were silent after that, none really know the answer.

"I donno, just try and survive I guess? Try and figure out why this is all happening," The black haired boy suggested, and the others nodded, it was the only thing they really could do at this point.

"Maybe we should just go sit somewhere and try and figure out what we know," Husky said, and so the group of four went to the park, sitting down at one of the old wooden picnic tables. And sat, and sat, none knowing where to actually begin.

"Well, mine came after I had that scary dream," Cooro said finally, "and Senri doesn't remember when he got his," Husky nodded and started picking at the decaying wood.

"And mine came when… y'know," The silver boy mumbled. The others just nodded, no one going to press him to actually say it.

"And then there's that dream Husky and I both had, the one with the hill," the black haired boy said. Senri looked confused, so the children explained the strange dreams to him, having forgotten they hadn't already.

"You don't think something like that will happen, do you?" The brown haired girl asked. Husky simply shrugged, but Cooro shook his head. "You don't?" She asked, all a bit confused as to how he could be so certain.

"No, it seems more like an, I don't know, more like a memory, but that's impossible," Cooro said. The two ten year olds glanced at each other. What Cooro said was true, it was impossible, but so far the black haired boy seemed to be right about most things.

"Maybe we should just wait and see what happens to Nana before we decide anything," Husky suggested, and the eleven year old nodded.

"Nothing strange has been happening to you or at your house, has it?" Cooro asked, and the green eyed girl shook her head.

"Nope, nothing strange," she said, and it was true. Nothing out of the ordinary had been happening, although her ordinary probably wasn't the same as their ordinary, though.

"Alright, but still, if something does happen, you know where Cooro and I'll be," Husky said, and the brown haired girl nodded. The ebony boy's head perked up, and he turned towards Senri.

"Hey, where do you live, Senri?" Cooro asked happily, and the grey haired teen stood up after a second, and started walking along the path that led into the woods. The three children sat at the table a moment, none quite sure what just happened. "C'mon guys, Senri's gonna show us where he lives… I think," Cooro said happily as he began chasing after the teen.

"Hey! Wait for us!" The two left at the table yelled in unison before running after their friends. The four walked along the path, the three youngest confused, before they finally spilt from the dirt path, making there way along until reaching a small clearing.

"T-This is where you live?" Husky yelled, looking around at the sleeping bag and various other items spewed about neatly in the grass. Senri simply nodded, not seeming fazed or concerned about that fact in the least. Cooro and Nana stood at the edge of the clearing, both appearing speechless, quite a feet for those two.

"Why?" the ebony haired boy asked, beginning to walk around as the shock wore off. Senri thought for a bit, before shrugging. "You can't remember?" Cooro asked, and the teen nodded. "You could stay at the church," he suggested, but Senri shook his head.

The three children stayed with the teen for a bit longer, Cooro offering many times for him to come back to the church with them, before they finally left without the grey haired boy.

"I wonder what happened to his family," Husky mumbled, looking back in the direction of the clearing as the three walked along the path. The black haired boy shrugged.

"Donno, I wonder if he goes to school. He's only about fifteen, even if he looks older," Cooro said. The other two nodded, all now very worried over the safety of the older boy. Husky sighed.

"Don't worry, we'll figure out some way to help him," The silver boy said, beginning to kick up the leaves on the path half-heartedly. It was almost winter now, which did absolutely nothing to help the children's fear for Senri's well being. "I guess I know why he was outside that night now…" Husky mumbled, and Cooro nodded. Nana hadn't said anything throughout the exchange, but just kept glancing back over her shoulder. Finally they were back out in the main part of the park.

"Well, I guess we should start heading home now, it's getting late," The silver boy suggested. Cooro nodded, vaguely wondering when Husky had started to call the church home. His thoughts went back towards the morning, remembering when the younger boy had asked his brother how things were going at the house, not home.

"Yeah, I guess I'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Maybe we can figure out what to do with Senri then," Nana said, the first time she spoke since leaving the clearing.

"Okay, see ya," Cooro said, and the brown haired girl turned to leave, only to stop dead in her tracks. "Nana?" The black haired boy questioned.

"Husky?" The green eyed girl asked, not turning away from whatever it was she was staring at.

"Yeah?" he asked, only half interested, his thoughts still occupied on how to make it so Senri did not live in a forest by the time winter rolled around.

"Is that your brother?" She asked, which managed to get both boys attention. Looking down the street, it was indeed said redhead.

"Oh…my…" Husky whispered. Keane hadn't saw them yet, but it looked like he was looking for someone. That wasn't what shocked the silver haired boy though. He was crying, no, full blown sobbing. People walking along the street did there best to avoid him. If it was possible, he somehow to look like he had given up even more slumping agents the park fence and sliding down to the ground, the tears not even close to stopping.

Husky shook his head, any and all previous thoughts completely whipped from his mind as he started to run towards the hysterical boy.

"Keane!"

* * *

And there we have it. I really am so mean to Keane, but he's such as easy target. I'm not telling you what happened though, that would be cheating.

And yes, Senri is officially homeless. Hurray!… Okay, not really hurray, but he finally got a bit of screen time, which hopefully will be happening to both him and Nana more, although Keane's probably derailed that for at least a little longer. Stupid ginger, why do you keep messing things up! (I'm so cruel…)


	23. Chapter 23

IT'S ALIVE! Again… I feel really bad about being gone for so long, with little to no reason accept just simply not being able to find the time, especially at the rather large cliffhanger I decided to end at as well. For all of my stories. Schools been demanding, and even during winter break I couldn't muster up the motivation to just sit down and write. If it wasn't for the fact that I know people are waiting for me to keep writing and how appreciated that makes me feel, I'm not sure how long I would of waited to update.

Well, if you all can find it in your hearts to forgive me, here is the next, extremely overdue chapter.

Chapter 23

"Keane!" Husky called, sprinting towards the sobbing boy, his two friends on his heels. He stopped short just a few feet, looking very uncertain about what to do next. "Shit… hey Keane, what happened? What's wrong?" the silver boy asked, taking a few tentative steps forward, only to backtrack a bit when the red head started to stand. He tired to talk, but wasn't able to quite form the words. "Hey, calm down okay? Hold your breath and count backwards from ten," Husky commanded, trying to keep himself under control as well. He wasn't afraid he would start crying or anything, it was just keeping himself from yelling at the already broken boy. Seeing the red head release his breath, appearing slightly less shaken, he said the same command he'd made to Cooro the other night. "Now, tell me what happened."

"M-mom," Keane said weakly. Husky waited, hoping he would give him more then just that to go on.

"Dylana? What happened? Is she okay?" The silver boy prompted when it didn't look like his brother would say anything else. Keane shook his head, which only caused more confusion on Husky's part. "No? What do you mean no? Is she hurt?" Cooro stole a glance at Nana. Neither dared to speak it, but it was an easy conclusion to make that Dylana was not simply hurt, not that Husky seemed to take any notice of that. Almost out of the blue the red head snapped, pretty much confirming the two's thoughts.

"She's dead Myrrah! She's dead and she killed herself and it's all my fault!" He yelled before crumpling to the ground again in a heap of tears. The other three children couldn't move, completely frozen by the declaration.

"N-no…" it was a whisper, but Nana and Cooro could still hear it over their own shock. "I-I never… I never wanted this to… t-to happen…" the silver boy sounded near tears himself. His two friends stood awkwardly behind him, both wanting to help but neither having any idea as to what they could possibly do. After what seemed like an eternity Husky sighed before rubbing his eyes a bit. Cooro couldn't tell if he had actually cried, or if that had just been some extra precaution to keep it from happening.

"C'mon Keane, we need to get home…" The younger boy said, grabbing his brother's shoulder. His headache from earlier was magnified by at least ten by now. "Did you call Dad yet?" Keane shook his head slowly as he stood up, which only caused Husky to sigh again. "Alright, we'll do that when we get home… then the police…" Husky added as he thought of it. The red head simply nodded. He had stopped crying, but his face was completely empty.

"Hey Cooro?" the silver boy asked weakly, causing his friend to jump. He hadn't been expecting to be addressed. Truthfully, he'd thought the brothers had completely forgotten they were there.

"Yeah?" the black haired boy answered once the shock had worn off. Husky shook his head again, still trying to compose himself. Cooro couldn't help but think about how this woman had attempted cold blooded murder on his friend, made it so he couldn't go back home, turning Keane into a complete nervous wreak, and yet they were both still _mourning _her. He felt bad too, he didn't think anyone deserved to die, but he hadn't really known her.

"Can you maybe… bring my stuff over? Tomorrow, I mean, after school? I need to stay with Keane," Husky asked, and Cooro nodded almost instantly.

"Of course, where do you live?" The silver boy quickly got a piece of paper out of his backpack and wrote down his address before handing it over to his friend with a small thanks. Cooro tried to smile as he grabbed the paper. "No problem, see you tomorrow?" Husky simply nodded before turning to lead Keane away. Poor boy looked like he would of just stood in the same spot all night if no one did.

"I-I can't believe… wow…" Nana mumbled once the two were out of sight. The black haired boy agreed silently before sighing under his breath.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow too, I need to go clean up Husky's stuff," he said in a blank voice, sounding light years away from his normal cheerful self.

"Y-yeah, see ya…" The brown haired girl replied shakily and watched as Cooro walled down the quickly darkening street. Shaking her head and at a lose for what to do, Nana turned and started towards her own home, completely and utterly wiped.

Husky closed the door quietly behind him. It felt so strange, being in this house in he couldn't even remember how long now, so much had happened. He had no clue what he should do either. It felt as if he made one wrong move and Keane would just shatter into a million pieces. He needed to know what had happened though, so he could explain it to his dad, and then the police.

"The bathroom…" it nearly gave Husky a heart attack despite being barely audible. Before he could get over his shock and ask exactly what the red head meant, he started up again. "The bathroom, she's in the bathroom…" he mumbled, and the Husky tried not to let any of his fear show on his face. Keane couldn't be strong, so he had to.

"Alright then, you stay right here. I'm gonna go check it out, then call dad," the younger brother said, trying to sound as grown up as possible as he led the red head to a chair and sat him down. He just nodded, looking as blank as a wall. It shook Husky up quite a bit. What happened to the Keane that would fight with him constantly and wouldn't listen to the younger boy if his life depended on it? Well, he knew what had happened to the Keane. The same thing had happened to him just a few months ago.

Once outside of the bathroom the boy froze. Dylana had been cruel to him, tried to _kill_ him, but he didn't want this. Keane had cared about her, despite everything he said about it being alright, no, mandatory, that Husky go to the police. He practically squeezed the life out of the glass doorknob, but he couldn't help it. He didn't want to open that stupid door and see whatever the hell it was behind it. He was only ten years old for crying out loud, but he knew he had to. He had to know what had happened so he could explain it to his father and then the police. Keane was obviously in no such state to do so. Holding his breath and squeezing his eyes shut, the silver boy pushed open the door.

The body was suspended in the middle of the room. A rope was around her neck and tied to the large light fixture that Husky never understood was needed in a bathroom. It was hard to breath, he'd never actually seen a dead body before. His mother's funeral had been closed casket. Shaking his head he ran as fast as he could from the room, not even sure or frankly caring if he shut the door. His heart was easily going a mile a minute, even after he stopped.

Husky wasn't sure how long it took him to calm down enough to be able to dial his father's work number. "Pick up, pick up…" He mumbled, praying he wouldn't have to explain all of this to an answering machine.

"Hello, Mr. Sandori's office, may I take a message?" A woman asked over the phone. Husky sighed, at least it wasn't a machine.

"Um, hello. It's h-his son, Hus- I mean Myrrah, I really, really need to ta-lk to him," the silver boy pleaded, not pleased at all at his cracking voice, or the slip up in his own name for peat's sake. His thoughts about that were short lived when the secretary started speaking, although you could almost hear the boredom dripping from her voice.

"I'm sorry, he's in a meeting right now, could you call back again in about an hour?" She asked, the sound of bubble gum popping shortly after. The ten year old quickly turned all the emotions jumbled up inside of him to anger. It was both easy and useful.

"Look, I _need_ to talk to him. Now. Got it?" Husky growled into the phone. He heard another click of the bubble gum as she kept chewing, each pop irritating him even further.

"I'm sorry, I'll need you to call again and-" the woman started, but Husky was already done with it.

"Damn it lady! Let me talk to my dad! My step-mother just hung herself in our bathroom and I still need to call the police after this, so just shut up about the stupid meeting and get him out here already!" the silver boy yelled. The secretary was silent for almost a full twenty seconds.

"Y-yes sir…" He heard her mumbled into the other end before what he assumed was setting the phone down on her desk. After what felt like two years but was probably closer to two minutes he heard his father on the other end.

"What is it Myrrah? I was in the middle of an important meeting," the man said into the line. Husky wasn't sure what that lady had said to get him to come out, but he sounded annoyed, so he decided to just cut right to the chase.

"," the ten year old said faster then he thought possible. His father was silent for a moment before calmly asking him to repeat himself. Taking a breath, he started over, only slightly slower then before. "Dylana killed herself in the bathroom and I don't know what to do and Keane is really upset can you please come home?" he asked, not stopping for any breaths. The phone started beeping at him, and he pulled it away from his ear. Guess he was coming home.

Setting the phone down Husky sighed softly. He just wanted to collapse in his bed and sleep for as long as possible, but he couldn't, not yet. He had to go make sure Keane was okay, and then wait for his father to get home, then the police. He decided that he would let his father be the one to actually call them, but that didn't mean he wouldn't have to explain everything he knew to them a bazillion times once they got here. No, he couldn't collapse for some time now. Trying to gather himself, he headed back to where his broken half-brother was still seated.

"H-hey, I called dad," Husky said attentively. He thought he was Keane nod, but he wasn't sure. "I'm not tell, there's no need to anymore…" the silver boy said softly, although Keane just looked up at him, a tiny bit of confusion on his otherwise blank face. "I mean, there's no need for anyone to… you know, know what she did, tried to do… it wont do anything but make her look bad… don't kick her wile she's down, or whatever…" Husky mumbled, not quite sure how to explain his decision. He was never the best with words. He'd ever actually wanted to tell anyone anyway. The red head nodded, coming as close to a smile as he could at the moment.

"Thanks Myrrah…" he whispered, pulling his legs up onto the chair and against his chest. Husky nodded before leaving the room, only to return a moment later with one of the blankets from the closest closet in his arms, then draped it over Keane. The red head grabbed the fabric and pulled it closer around himself as his brother took a seat on a nearby couch. Facing the window, Husky stared out as he waited for their father to get home, all the wile trying not to think about the dead body hanging somewhere above them.

Every once in a while he'd glance over at Keane, who for the most part remained mostly unchanged in his chair. He didn't change position and just clung to the blanket around him. The younger boy wasn't sure if it was actually any help, but they managed to calm him a bit when he was upset, and it was the only comfort he could think to give.

Cooro slumped against his bedroom door, slowly sliding to the floor. He'd came in through the back way, trying to avoid crossing path with any people, but of course Mother Superior had still seen him, and she'd asked where Husky was as well. He'd ignored her though, which was rare for him, and just ran to his room. He hoped she stayed away for a while, just long enough for him to calm down. After about five minutes he figured he was safe. For now, at least.

Pushing himself up, the black haired boy went to sit on the bed. His back hurt from leaning against the door for so long. He knew he should start gathering up his friends things, but he couldn't yet. Maybe in an hour or so, he didn't have much anyway.

He just felt so terrible all over, and worried. He didn't remember his own parents, so even though he didn't have any, he didn't know what it felt to lose one. He didn't know Keane that well either, but he was definitely a nice guy, and he cared about Husky and his mom. Dylana… well, he'd never actually met her, and she'd done something pretty horrible to Husky, but then Husky's reaction… Oh, he was so confused. And sad.

Crawling over to the window next to his bed, the black haired boy pushed it open, the cool air hitting his face almost immediately. The sun was nearly set, and the town really did look beautiful from here. He wanted to fly. Just for a little bit, just to escape from the sadness and confusion that was currently ensnaring his life for a moment.

He really didn't know where to start with everything, there was so much on his plate. Keane's mom killing herself, Husky having to go back home, Husky, Senri and himself all having strange powers for who knows what reason, and Nana might be next, those dreams… It was all too much to bare.

Closing his eyes, Cooro let his wings unfurl. It was amazing, the feeling of bones growing straight out of his back, only to be immediately covered in muscles, skin and feathers. More feathers growing along and down his arms. You think it would be painful, but it couldn't for felt more natural to the boy.

Opening his eyes he surveyed the area outside his window again. There weren't too many people out, but someone flying through the sky was sure to get attention. Cooro wasn't really sure if that would matter though, even if someone managed to get a picture or video or something. People would just pin it as some UFO hoax or something, and it would be worth the escape while it lasted. Shutting his eyes once more, he started to beat his wings. Once, twice…

"Cooro? Can I talk to you?" The ebony haired boy sighed at the voice of the old nun penetrating his thoughts before quickly willing the wings and feathers away. Only a few lose ones that had fallen off still lay around, but the boy didn't make any moves to hide them. He had collected black feathers since he was little, she would just assume they were a few of those.

"Yes," He called quietly, turning away from the window. The old nun walked in, taking a quick sweep of the room before allowing her eyes to focus on Cooro.

"Where's Husky?" She asked finally, pushing some feathers away and taking a seat next to him on the bed. Cooro didn't look up at her, but opting instead to stare at the books Husky had left on his nightstand and twiddle his thumbs, not sure whether or not he should tell her.

"He had to go home," The black haired boy said finally, only for the nun to nod for him to continue. "His step-mom, she uh, she died… so I'm gonna bring him his stuff tomorrow after school," He explained, Mother Superior nodded sadly.

"Poor boy," She said softly, and Cooro couldn't help but agree one hundred percent of the way. They had never actually told her the full reason as to why he had been staying there in the first place, and she never pressed them. He wondered slightly if she would now, but thankfully she didn't.

"Would you like some help gathering his things?" She asked finally, gesturing around the room, but Cooro shook his head.

"Nah, he didn't bring much, and um, I just want a little alone time…" the black haired boy said. The old nun nodded and turned to leave. "Um, Mother Superior?" Cooro gulped. She turned towards him and smiled softly.

"Yes, little one?" She asked. The eleven year old began to fidget. He had no idea why he was asking this now of all times, when he already had so many other things to think about, but he was.

"Um, what… what ever happened to my parents?" he had ever directly asked before, but he'd basically been told that they had never been able to find them, not that there had been much of an effort to try. They'd left him at a church, that in an of itself was pretty much an explanation, and he'd never really needed any more then that. Until now, he guessed.

"We don't know, but I'm sure they loved you very much and wanted you to have as good of a life as you could," the nun said before leaving the room. Cooro sighed. There was no point in arguing. That's what he wanted to believe after all, that they did care for him.

A gust of cool air brought his attention back towards the open window. It was dark out now, the sun having dipped behind the horizon a few moments ago. It wasn't pitch black though, the lights from cars and streetlight and buildings preventing that. It always bothered him. When he grew up he wanted to move out to the country, some place away from all the lights.

Another gust brought him out of his thoughts, and he closed the window. He couldn't escape just yet, he thought sadly. Maybe another time.

Getting off his bed, the black haired boy grabbed his friend's grey duffle bag. Everything Husky had was either grey or silver or blue. Picking up some clothes Cooro tried to fit them in the bag, never having been the most organized when it came to thinks like packing.

Once finished Cooro scanned the room one last time, trying to make sure he hadn't missed anything. His eyes fell on the light blue blanket Husky had clung to whenever he was upset and had ended up sleeping with everything, even though Keane had brought over one of his own.

Smiling slightly, the ebony haired boy folded the blanket and placed in on top of the bag. He had other blankets, and he felt that Husky would be using it much more then he would in the future.

* * *

What is this? What is This? A finished chapter? But that's impossible! Sorry again for the huge impromptu hiatus I'd taken. Hopefully I'm back on track, and updates in all my other stories can follow shortly.

I hope this chapter was somewhat worth the wait. Husky's home life just can not get any worse, and his mysterious dad had finally been seen. Or well, heard. By the by, I absolutely hate that secretary, so much so I will probably make her return someday. I mean seriously, let the traumatized child talk to his dad already!

Anyway, if you all don't hate me and decided to give up on this story, please review.


	24. Chapter 24

Hello all. Look, it hasn't been three months! I'm getting better, yay. Also, this is the first chapter that was not written out on actual pen and paper and then copied onto the computer, so hopefully it will still be as good grammatically and everything. I'm still editing and everything, but it'll be like how I do my other stories.

I have to say though, because I'd prewritten everything so long ago (every chapter but the one you are about to read was written before I started uploading this story) it wasn't a surprise to me that Dylana would commit suicide. I mean, I know it wouldn't be a surprise because I wrote it, but I'd forgotten that I'd originally wrote it as something unexpected, a plot twist. So when people were saying they were so surprised, I was confused for a second, but then realized, no one else but myself knew, and had no way of knowing, so it worked the way I'd originally wanted, even if I'd forgotten about that effect myself.

Anyway, on with the next chapter, and on time this time.

Chapter 24

It wasn't long before Husky saw his father's expensive dark blue car swerve into the driveway at a rather high speed. He didn't know what kind it was, he never cared about that kind of stuff. The silver boy wasn't able to get a very clear look at the man as he ran past the front window towards their door, but he didn't have to wait long for it to swing open and reveal his worried and almost disturbed expression. Husky glanced at the clock quickly before he said anything. It had been only ten minutes since he'd hung up the phone. It usually took twenty to get from his father's office to here on a good day. It was a miracle he hadn't been pulled over.

"Dad…" the younger boy started, not sure where to really begin. He didn't normally call him that, but felt it might have some unfortunate side effects on the tall man if he called him father in such a stressful and emotional situation if he ever decided to look back on it. Keane hadn't even looked up at the blonde man's rushed entrance.

"Where is she?" he asked, a pained sound to his voice. It was even worse then when Husky's mother had died. The child wasn't sure if that was because this was his wife or if it was too much too soon and too sudden when combined with Marien's death.

"Upstairs, in the bathroom," the silver boy explained, and his father was up the stairs before he could say anything else about what he saw or calling the police, but he guessed that was fine, it could wait.

Standing up from the couch he walked over to the red head. He hadn't so much as glanced at their father the entire time. It was really beginning to become unnerving.

"Keane?" He asked, stopping in front of his brother, who didn't answer, so he decided to try again. "Keane, are you alright?" The older boy's only response was to bury his head father down into his knees, which definitely wasn't what Husky wanted. "Look, just talk to me, I know what you're going through," He tried one last time. He knew it was probably best to just leave him alone, but he couldn't. Stupid emotions and being worried and all that junk.

Husky was torn away from Keane at the sound of their father's footsteps falling down the stairs. He almost couldn't look, their uneven pattern making the silver boy think for a second that he was carrying the corpse, but luckily he hadn't. He'd probably left the body right where it was, despite how much he probably didn't want to. His father was a smart man, and he knew that this was a crime scene. If he messed with anything, it would make it more difficult on the police once they showed up.

"Myrrah," the blonde man started. His voice sounded horsed, and Husky could see water coating his eyes, causing them to shine, but he didn't let any of it fall. He wouldn't cry in front of his children.

"Yes?" he asked, trying to sound as calm as he could. It was hard though, combined with everything that was already going on, he'd never really interacted with his father. He knew why the man was relying on his now, even if he was younger, Keane was in no shape by anyone's standards to do anything, and he'd been the one to make the phone call in the first place, but it didn't make it any less intimidating and just kind of scary.

"When did you find out about this, and have you called the police yet?" his father asked, his business voice trying to mask any of the emotions he felt. Husky was sure it worked every other time, but now it sounded forced and strange.

"I was at the park with my friends when we found Keane crying, we came home right away and I called you as soon as I saw what happened myself, so maybe twenty minutes ago. No, I thought it would be better if you did," the silver boy explained, glad he was able to keep his voice mostly steady, with just a slight hitch here or there. He hadn't been able to look the man in the eyes though, but it was still better then he thought he could do.

"Alright, good. You've done good… Now watch your brother, I need to get to that then," the blond said, stepping out of the room. Husky was just able to make out a "Hello, police…" as his father walked off, speaking on his cell. Standing in place for a moment, the younger boy went back over to his spot on the couch and sat down. He'd watch Keane, but he didn't know what he could actually do for him beside that. Just be there, he guessed.

His father came back into the room a few minutes later, although nobody said anything until the police arrived, the car thing from the morgue right behind it. Husky couldn't remember what it was called. He knew normally, but he just couldn't remember right now.

There were four police officers in total, and three went upstairs to where Mr. Sandori directed them, and the last one stayed down to question the children. Husky wasn't sure if he should stand up and actually try and greet the man or stay seated. Keane wasn't about to get up, although he had stolen a quick glance at the policemen when they'd first came in, so that was something, at least. He decided to remain seated, but actually meet the man's gaze, unlike his brother, who just kept staring at the floor.

"Hello, my name is Officer Donald Richards, but you can call me Don. I'm terribly sorry about what happened to your mother, but do you mind if I could ask you two children a few questions?" the brunette man asked politely, trying his best to sound friendly. Husky shook his head in response.

"Ask whatever you need to know, Mr. Richards," the silver boy answered. He wasn't too big on calling adults by their first name, especially if he'd just met them or they were in a position of authority, and this man was both. He only laughed at the answer though, not appearing fazed. Husky got the feeling he dealt with kids a lot, probably had a few of his own or something.

"Well, you're a smart girl, I will then," Mr. Richards said happily, although Husky's fist clenched and he had to keep from yelling at the well meaning man. Now was not the time for unnecessary yelling, no matter how much he wanted to.

"Boy…" he grumbled, not looking the brown haired man in the eyes. Mr. Richards didn't seem to hear him though, the smile on his face replaced with a look of mild confusion.

"What was that?" He asked, and Husky sighed, still trying to contain the pent up anger. He stole a glance at Keane before responding again. He didn't seem to be paying attention. Too bad, maybe the innocent man's mistake would of cheered him up a bit or something.

"I said boy, I am a boy…" Husky said again, clearly this time. If he wasn't so peeved then the look on the officer's face probably would have been kind of funny, but right now he didn't really care.

"O-oh! Of course! I'm terribly sorry. Y-you're a smart _boy. _Yes, well, should we start with the questions then?" Mr. Richards' stammered as he tried to regain control after his fax pas. At least he realized that mistaking a little boy who's stepmother had just committed suicide for the opposite gender was not something really acceptable, and while you might think that was a given, Husky had met quite a few people who brushed it off in such a way that he wasn't sure.

Husky simply nodded, hoping the man would get on with it already. Mr. Richards brushed his hair back in a last attempt at regaining his composure before starting. "Alright then, lets start out with the basics first, what are your names?"

"He's Keane Sandori and I'm H- Myrrah Medici,"` the silver boy answered. The officer nodded as he wrote it down on a pad he was holding quickly before asking his next question.

"So, you two are brothers, correct? Was there a divorce in the family? I mean, due to you having different last names," Husky had to admit that this guy wasn't all bad, despite his earlier mistake. He wasn't treating them like idiotic little kids for one thing. Or maybe he had just been wrong in his earlier assumption that the man dealt with children before. He might just be a nice guy who hadn't much experience with kids, so he just treated them the same way as adults, instead of the overly simplified and sugarcoated mess that Husky was used to dealing with. The silver child decided he wasn't going to sugarcoat anything either then as he shook his head.

"We're half brothers , my parents were never married. I was the result of an affair," the young boy said dryly. He couldn't help but notice Keane flinch slightly in his chair, as well as the officer nearly dropping his pencil at the bluntness. Maybe a little too dry.

"Oh…" Mr. Richards started, not appearing too sure as to where to go next. "Did your parents come right out and tell you that?"

"No, but it was pretty easy to figure out," Husky said, shaking his head. The brunette's pencil didn't stop as he started his next inquiry.

"Where is your mother now?" the silver boy took a breath before starting to answer. He knew that this question was going to come up sooner or later, especially once he'd mentioned the situation of his birth, but that didn't mean it still couldn't feel like a kick in the gut on top of everything else.

"…She died around three months ago in a car crash with a drunk driver. Then I came to live here," Husky said, trying his best to sound emotionless, businesslike. It didn't quite work though, sounding like a slightly toned down version of his father's voice from just earlier. Maybe he had more in common with the man then he thought. Mr. Richards looked sympathetically up at the child when he'd finished writing his notes.

"Alright Myrrah, I say that about covers the background information. I guess we should get onto the matter at hand. How did you find out about what happened? Were you home at the time or did this happen while you were at school?" Husky then went into the same explanation he'd gave his father, watching as the officer wrote down what he said onto the pad. After he was done writing he turned toward the red head, who hadn't made any effort to get into the questioning thus far.

"Hey there son, if it's alright with you, could you tell me what had happened before your brother here found you?" He asked, a gentle tone to his voice. Husky frowned slightly, he couldn't exactly help Keane with this question, he didn't know either, but at least the man was acting understanding. Finally, once Husky had assumed the ginger just wasn't going to answer, he sighed.

"…when I came home from school… I couldn't find her. W-when I did, I-I ran to go find Myrrah…" he explained in a near whisper. Mr. Richards didn't ask for him to speak up or go into any further detail thankfully, simply writing a bit more on his notepad before turning back to the younger, slightly more composed brother.

"Thank you, now Myrrah, you hadn't noticed any strange behaviors in your stepmother recently, had you? Even if it doesn't seem that significant, anything could help to point us in the direction of a motivation," the man prompted. Husky shook his head.

"No, everything's been nor-" he wasn't able to finish his sentence though, cut off by the last person he'd expected.

"She tried to drown Myrrah in the bathtub a month ago…" Keane said, in a tone no louder then a mumble but effectively shutting up everyone else the room, still not looking up from the floor the entire time. The silver boy's eyes were wide and he was gaping from the shock, looking a bit like a fish, actually. Unsure of what else to do, he went on default mode.

"Keane! I _said _I wasn't going to tell anyone! Why did you _do_ that!" he yelled, springing up from his seat. It made no sense. He'd just told him that he wasn't going to rat out Dylana, so why did that stupid ginger just go and blurt it out with absolutely no provoking what so ever? The officer wasn't ever asking him, dang it!

His brother actually looked up to meet his gaze when he answered him, but Husky almost wished he hadn't. He looked so empty.

"Because it was motivation…" the red head answered, and Husky flopped back down into his seat, at a bit of a lose for words.

"B-but you didn't need to… Urg, whatever. I don't care, if you want to tell then I wont stop you. It doesn't matter anymore…" Husky grumbled, starting to get annoyed that he wasn't able to sound as angry as he wanted, but more helpless. Yes, he was angry at not being angry. He wasn't even sure how that worked.

It was pretty much silent in the room for a few minutes, the only sound coming from the adults upstairs. Husky wondered how their father's questioning was going. Finally Mr. Richard coughed slightly before turning back towards the silver haired boy.

"So, would you like to elaborate on what Keane had said. If not, I wont force you," he made sure he'd gotten the last part out before Husky started talking. The younger boy couldn't decide if he thought that was polite or annoying. Probably both.

"It's just what it sounds like. She tried to…to…" Oh damn it all. He was not having a nervous breakdown now of all times. Not when so much was going on and Keane needed him to be strong. He could have one in his room later, after everyone left, just not now. Taking a deep breath the silver boy tried to calm himself, although he could still feel the shaking. The knuckles on his right hand were white from gripping the couch cushion, and he hoped the officer didn't notice, but he probably did. He decided just to skip the rest of the sentence, Mr. Richard could fill in the blank. It helped slightly, but not all the way. The incident was the trigger, not the cause.

"…I've been staying with a friend since," he managed to get out, and sure, there was a huge gap in the story, but he really didn't care. There were parts that he couldn't and wouldn't tell a soul, anyway.

Before Mr. Richard could say anything else, footsteps started down the stairs. Two of the officers were holding opposite ends of a stretcher, which Husky assumed the body was on. They'd covered it with a blanket though, so he thankfully couldn't see anything. The brunette stood up, placing a hand on Husky's shoulder and excusing himself before heading over to the other officers. His father was talking to the one not currently rolling the stretcher out towards the morgue car, and Mr. Richard joined them.

He wondered if the man would tell his father about the murder attempt, or how much more questioning he'd have to go though today alone. He wondered if they'd have to go to court. Probably not, it was obviously suicide, so what was there to argue.

Stealing a glance at Keane, who'd returned to his emotionless, curled up state, Husky rubbed his fingers down the turtleneck of his shirt where those strange marks lay in hiding beneath, and most of all, he wondered if there was anyway he would be able to get though it all.

* * *

And cut! More angst time for Husky. I hope you all don't mind. I always worry if I'm getting over emotional in this story, or out of character. I hope this wasn't out of character, especially Keane. The poor kid's just traumatized, you know?

Also, as a side note, any history buffs out there? If not, and maybe even still if you are, seeing as art history is a bit of a strange thing to be pulling in here, then Husky's last name probably has no meaning to you. It's actually the last name of the Medici family, famous art patrons from the early renaissance, from when it started out in Florence, before moving to Rome a little after their fall. There is absolutely no significance in that fact what so ever, I just thought it sounded good with Myrrah, and I'm almost positive I hadn't given him a last name yet. I hadn't, right? If I did then whoops on my part, but I'm just too lazy to go though 23 chapters to find one thing that may or may not be there.

Why am I writing such long author's notes lately? Well, please review.


	25. Chapter 25

Hello all. Schools been a hassle, as always, but I figured I should still get a start on the next chapter of this, so that I don't fall back into the non update whole. Hey my author's note wasn't super long this time.

Chapter 25

Cooro really wished he could just skip school, but he'd already missed so much this year, he didn't think he could convince Mother Superior to let him stay home yet another day if he wasn't sick. Neither Husky nor Keane showed up, not that he was surprised.

He went straight to class in the morning, not stopping to look for Nana. It wasn't that he was avoiding her or anything, he just didn't feel like talking to anyone, let alone someone who'd it'd be nearly impossible to skit around the jumbled mess that their lives was turning out to be. While he'd of preferred silence, the meaningless yells of his hyperactive classmates were alright too. If he didn't focus on them, they pretty much turned into background noise after a while.

It was hard not falling asleep during class. He'd hadn't gotten much last night, and he just couldn't focus on whatever they were supposed to be learning. It just didn't seem that important in the long run anymore.

Heading to lunch, he sat down across from Nana who was already at the table. Neither said much as they started eating, but finally the brown haired girl decided to break the silence.

"So, you're heading to Husky's after school, right?" She asked, and Cooro nodded, his mouth still full, before swallowing to answer.

"Yeah, I need to drop off his stuff. I've never been there though, I wonder what it's like," He said, trying his best to sound casual about it. He knew she already knew why he had to go there, but he wasn't sure what else to say. She didn't seem to either, simply nodding before continuing with her lunch, not seeming to focus on anything.

That was about the extent of any conversation attempts made during the twenty five minute period, both too lost in their own thoughts to say much else. As he left the lunchroom, Cooro wondered if he should have invited her to come with him to Husky's house, but decided against it. It wasn't that he'd thought the silver haired boy would get mad. He knew that the two were friends whether they admitted it or not, he just didn't think that it would be the best time to have any more then the bare minimum of people over. There could still be cops or something, for all he knew.

Once his afternoon classes were finally over the black haired boy left school as fast as he could. He had to go back to the church to pick up Husky's things before heading to his house. That didn't take very long though, and soon Cooro was wondering around the streets searching for the address sloppily written on the paper his friend had given him. He knew the general direction he had to go, and stopped to ask directions several times. It really wasn't that far though, and Cooro was impressed by the large house he finally found to match his address.

Walking up to the door, the eleven year old knocked softly, shifting the bag on his shoulder slighting. He'd somehow managed to fit the old blue blanket inside, and Husky's book bag was also on his back. He didn't have to wait long for the door to open, revealing a very worn out Husky in front of him. He looked absolutely exhausted, and Cooro could guess that he hadn't gotten much sleep last night. He quickly ushered the black haired boy inside though, telling him to drop the bags anywhere.

The inside was just as impressive as the outside, although that didn't really surprise him all that much. He was able to tell a while ago that Husky was probably well off finically. It wasn't that he bragged about his money or anything like that like some other people, anything but. He didn't mention money at all actually, and the way some of their classmates acted seemed to rub the silver haired boy worse then some of the poorer students. It wasn't anything like that, he just couldn't help the fact that he dressed very well, was very polite when needed to be and wore expensive looking earrings everywhere he went.

Husky sat down rather ungracefully on one of the couches, and Cooro followed his example. The two were silent until the younger sighed heavily, putting his face in his hands.

"I don't know what to do…" He mumbled, and Cooro wasn't sure what he should say, so just waited for him to continue, which he thankfully did. "It's just… urg. Keane told them what she did. I told the idiot he didn't have to. She's already dead! But the brat did it anyway, said they needed it for motivation or something like that. Then they told my dad and now he wont even look at me, not that he did much before but this is different. I just don't know what to do anymore. I don't even know why I'm telling you all this," the silver haired boy grumbled, explaining some of the events to befall him in the last day.

"Because we're friends?" Cooro suggested for his last remark, to which Husky shrugged and glanced over at the lamp on the table to his side.

"Yeah… I guess," he mumbled, but it didn't bother the black haired boy any. That was just how Husky was. He figured he should probably offer his friend some advice, but he was just about, if not more so, as clueless for what to do as him.

"Um, about what happened though. I guess you shouldn't worry about it, because they already know, so there's nothing you can do to change it, and I guess your dad is just shocked, y'know? I'm sure it will be okay," Cooro offered. He didn'at know much about Husky's dad. He didn't know anything really. Husky never mentioned him. It had to be something like that though, although Cooro couldn't help but be a bit worried when he'd mentioned that he didn't look much at Husky before this. Hopefully he was just reading too much into that part.

"Yeah, you're probably right," the silver haired boy said. It was quiet for a few moments, and Cooro decided to ask something that had been on his mind since he'd come in.

"So, where's Keane?" He didn't expect the red head to have come down and greet him or anything, but he was still worried about him. He'd been such a wreak when he'd last saw him, it was hard not to worry.

"Upstairs in his room. He's probably not going to be coming out anytime soon though," Husky answered, and Cooro nodded. He thought as much. Looking around the room, another thought crept into the black haired boy's mind. Something he'd been wondering for a much longer time then his last question. He wanted to ask, but now probably wasn't the best time. Husky'd just lost his step mother, no matter how nasty she might have been, it was still no time to be prodding the boy about the whereabouts of his real one.

"Well," Husky began, standing up, "thanks for bringing my stuff over. I don't think I'll be at school for the rest of the week though," Cooro nodded. He would have been surprised to see him. Keane will probably stay home even longer.

"No problem. It was nice being able to see your house," the black haired boy said, trying to keep up a cheerful attitude. "Um, I'll see you around then, I guess," he said as he walked towards the door. Husky followed him, picking up the bags he'd left by the entrance.

"Yeah, see you," the silver boy said, heading up the stares as Cooro headed out the door. Placing the bags on his floor, he made a beeline to the bed, collapsing into it. He was glad that Cooro'd come, and not just because he'd brought him his things. It wasn't that he was lonely or anything, with Keane not coming out of his room for very, very understandable reasons or his father, although actually home for a change, not being able to even look at him for equally understandable reasons. It was just nice to be able to talk to someone who wasn't directly involved.

He hadn't been able to sleep last night, having to talk to that Mr. Richardson again, as well as a few other police officers and investigators, and then finding out that they told his father everything. He thought he would be able to, feeling more wiped then he could remember at the time, but he hadn't. Now, lying on his bed again, he almost immediately feel into a very deep, thankfully dreamless sleep.

The next morning Cooro walked to school, looking normal to anyone who wasn't very close to him or paying much attention. The joy that was usually in his step was pretty much extinguished, but anyone that would notice wasn't there. Husky was right in what he'd said yesterday, he wasn't coming to school, and he really didn't know what way Nana walked, if she even did. Her parents might drive her to school, like some other kids did.

Walking to his locker, the black haired boy dully noted that he was actually pretty early today. He guessed he should probably head to class, not really sure where else to go. Before he could though, he spotted Nana walking up to him.

"Hi Cooro," the brunette said as she stopped next to his locker. He smiled at her as he shut it. She looked pretty tired too, although she was trying to give off a cheerful vibe. It was actually really good, if Cooro wasn't trying to do the exact same thing, then he probably would of believed it.

"Hiya, Husky's not coming to school today," the black haired boy informed her, and she nodded. That was pretty much a given by now.

"So, you went to his house yesterday?" She asked, and Cooro nodded. "Pretty big right? I'd forgotten that I had been there once. Well, outside of it, that is," Nana explained, and Cooro had to smile. He'd almost forgotten as well. Husky'd told him about how Nana had followed him all the way home when they first met demanding an apology, and how he refused to give it to her. It really wasn't that long ago, if he thought about it.

"Yeah, it's a really nice house. Husky seemed pretty tired though, so I didn't… um, are you okay? Cooro asked after trailing off. The brunette wasn't really looking at him anymore, but behind him, with a look of confusion and worry on her face. She slowly nodded, although that didn't comfort Cooro any.

"Um, not to sound like a broken record…" Nana started, still staring behind him, "but… is that Husky's brother?" whipping around, Cooro saw the trademark red hair of the slightly older boy disappear around a corner. Quickly sharing a look of concern with Nana, the two ran down the hallway hoping they were wrong.

Turning the corner they saw what was indeed Keane slowly walking down the hallway, and for a moment Cooro had absolutely no clue for what to do or why. What would posses Keane to come to school today? Husky had said they were staying home, so why was he here? Was Husky here too?

"Keane!" the black haired boy called, sprinting up next to the red head. Keane stopped at the sound of his name and turned around to see who was calling him. He didn't say anything though as the two younger children stopped next to him. Collecting himself quickly, Cooro decided to ask the most obvious question at the moment. "What are you doing here?"

Keane looked confused for a moment, appearing to think the question over before finally answering. "Because it's a school day," he said as if there was no reason why he shouldn't be. Cooro and Nana shared another look of concern before turning back towards the older boy.

"But, shouldn't` you be… home? I mean, with everything that's y'know, happened?" Nana asked gently, making sure she didn't say anything too specific. She knew things like that tended to set Husky off, but wasn't sure about his brother. Keane simply shook his head though and continued down the hallway. Nana and Cooro made sure to follow him though, not about to let this slide. There was no way he could handle the stress of school on top of everything else in his life right now.

"Keane, you should really, really go home. If Husky wakes up and you're not there, he's gonna be worried," the black haired boy tried, but Keane just kept walking, seeming to try and block the two out now.

"Yeah Husky," Nana started again, trying to pick up where Cooro left off, "Husky's home alone, and you should head back to watch him. He's probably not up yet, so if you leave now you should be able to get back before he does," it didn't gain any response from the red head though, and soon he turned into a classroom, effectively shutting the door in both their faces.

The two stood outside the class for a while, neither sure what to do next. "Should we… go tell the office?" Nana suggested, and Cooro thought for a moment. Should they? There was no way Keane should be here, it would probably be best if they did.

"Yeah, he shouldn't be here…" the black haired boy said, and the two quickly made there way towards the lobby where the office was located, not saying anything on the way there.

Stepping into the office, they spotted one of the administrators sitting behind the counter. He was a tall, bald man who always seemed bored with his job. Cooro had been hoping for one of the nicer lady administrators, but this would just have to do.

'Um, Mr. Pinklelooder?" the black haired boy started, gaining the admin's attention. He stood up from his seat and walked over to the counter, a pen in hand. He probably thought they were here to turn in an absent note or something.

"What do you need?" He asked in a monotone voice, and Cooro took a small breath. Where to begin?

"Um, we have a friend, and we think he should go home," he started, receiving the same disinterested stare from Mr. Pinklelooder, who started to go back to his seat.

"If he's sick, then he needs to go to the nurse himself, not send a couple of friends to the office," the bald man said, and Cooro quickly shook his head.

"No sir. He's not sick. His mother died Monday, and we really, really don't think he should be here," that caught the man's attention, and he turned around back towards the two children.

"Who's this friend of yours?" He asked, and Nana gave a small sigh of relief that he was listening to them again. She'd never liked those people who worked in the office. They didn't really know the students, but they were the once making up all the rules and punishments.

"Keane Sandori, he's in the sixth grade. Do you think you could call his dad or something and ask if he could take him home?" Cooro asked after giving the name and grade just for good measure. Mr. Pinklelooder wrote it down and nodded at the two.

"Yes I will. Thank you for the information. Now where are you suppose to be, I'll write you two passes, since class has already started," Cooro and Nana quickly gave him their classes and after getting their pass, headed down the hall.

"Do you think they'll be okay? I mean, there's no way Keane was alright," Nana asked, and all Cooro could do was shrug.

"I don't know Nana… I think Husky will be okay. He seemed really worn out yesterday, but he'll be okay. It's just Keane I'm worried about. It's like he's trying to deny everything," the black haired boy said, and Nana nodded in agreement. At least he was going to be sent home. Maybe his dad will do something once he learns how he tried to go to school.

Reaching the split in the hallway where they had to part, Cooro tired to smile at his friend. There wasn't really anything to smile about, but it wouldn't do any good to act as if there was no hope what so ever.

"Well, see you at lunch," the black haired boy said, and Nana smiled and nodded at him, heading down the hall to her classroom. Turning away towards his, the smile fell of his face rather quickly. Why did everything have to be so hard? They were just kids after all. How much could they take before they cracked completely?

* * *

"Just deny everything Double D! You'll live longer!" Yay I'm finished. Poor Keane. He sure is getting quite a mental beating despite not even being a plus anima. Also, hurray for bringing back random characters from over 23 chapters ago! Mr. Pinklelooder, or as called in chapter 2, Mr. Picklelover.

Well, please review.


	26. Chapter 26

Hi peoples. Sorry about the bit of a delay on this. Summers coming soon though, so things will probably be picking up then, hopefully. Something else that is coming up is the one year anniversary of this story. Just a little over two months. I'm trying to figure out what to do for it, never had a story last that long with me continuously working on it and liking it.

Chapter 26

Husky slowly pushed himself into a sitting position on his bed. Second night back home, and it still felt strange. Glancing at the clock on his wall, the silver boy frowned before pulling the blanket back up over him and flopping down again. It was only seven twenty. School barely even started yet, why was he up? It wasn't like he'd managed to get to sleep early or anything, mind working on far too many things to let him sleep until late into the night.

Absently the ten year old pulled the light blue blanket closer to him, it was getting cold, winter was starting to set in. He'd been surprised when he opened his duffle bag to find the blanket he'd used the entire time he'd stayed at Cooro's on top. He thought about calling the black haired boy and ask if it was a mistake, maybe he forgot it wasn't actually his, but decided against it. Cooro could be a bit out of it sometimes, but he usually knew what he was doing, not to mention that he was grateful. He wouldn't readily admit that of course, it was just a blanket, he had his own, but it was still nice. A literal safety blanket, he was ashamed to admit.

He was nearly back to sleep when the sound of the front door opening brought him back. Husky was all ready to ignore it and try again to fall asleep, when the sound of his father's voice started resonating up the steps and into his room.

"…know it's hard, but that's why you have to stay home. At least until the funeral, I don't want you or your brother going back to school, alright?" without anymore thoughts about the cold, Husky pushed the blanket off of him and headed towards the door. Was he talking to Keane?

"Dad?" the silver haired boy asked once he spotted said father, halfway down the stairs. Upon closer inspection he saw that Keane was indeed awake, fully dressed, sitting on the couch. Husky didn't stare at him too long though, the empty look a bit too haunting for him to deal with so early in the morning.

"Ah, Myrrah, you're awake…" his father said, only looking far enough up to see the bottom of his legs. Husky tried to keep the continued lack of contact from bothering him. It wasn't like he was ever close to the man in the first place.

"Yeah, um, what happened?" the ten year old asked, gesturing slightly towards Keane. His father sighed, wringing his hands together. It was only then that Husky noticed how his blonde hair was a mess, and his clothes wrinkled. He'd never seen his father like this. Not even at his own mother's funeral. He tried to keep the strange pang of pain off his face at this thought as he waited for the man to answer his question.

"Keane tried to go to school, but it's alright. Some friends of his told the office and I told him that he doesn't have to go to school until he feels ready and everything has calmed down," Mr. Sandori explained, and Husky nodded. Of course, Husky didn't bother to explain that Keane probably didn't go because he thought he had to, but he most likely didn't need to. His father was just trying to keep things as simple and clean as possible, and that wasn't easy.

The tall man rubbed his eyes before taking a quick look at his watch and wincing slightly. "Only seven thirty, you two should head back to bed," Husky nodded in agreement and Keane stood from his seat without a glance at either of the other occupants of the room before heading up the stairs towards his room. The silver boy quickly followed, not quite sure what he was planning to do.

"Hey, Keane?" he asked before the red head had managed to close the door to his room completely. Stopping in mid-motion, he turned around towards his brother. Husky ran his hand down his face, the inability to decide what to say turning into frustration. "Look, I just… is there anything you want me to do?" he asked hopelessly.

The red head simply shook his head in the negative before turning around so that his back was once again to the younger boy. Husky sighed before heading back around towards his own room at the other end of the hallway. He could only hope he wouldn't loose Keane too.

"Um, Myrrah?" the silver haired boy nearly tripped at the unexpected voice, quickly spinning back around towards his brother.

"Yeah?" he asked, not sure what to expect. Keane had hardly said anything in the past two days, not that Husky blamed him. The red head stayed quiet for a moment, seemingly thinking over what it was he exactly wanted to say, although Husky couldn't be entirely sure. His back was still turned. Finally, he sighed under his breath, hand gripping the doorknob a bit tighter then before.

"…Why's all this happening? It isn't fair…" he mumbled, and the ten year old really had no idea how to respond. Why _was_ all this happening? Keane didn't even know the more insane parts, and yet he was still completely right in his judgment. It _wasn't_ fair. It was just senseless hate and death and confusion and pain. He didn't notice his knuckles turn white from how hard he'd squeezed his fist, and right now he didn't care. If all this pain and death had something to do his crazy fish powers, then why was Keane having to suffer too?

"I have no idea… With how our luck is going, there probably isn't an answer," Husky finally said, not sure what else he could tell the red head. Keane just nodded though, taking the last remaining steps into his room.

"Yeah… you're probably right," he mumbled before shutting the door, leaving the younger boy alone in the still dark hallway. Husky simply turned on his heels and walked back into his room, straight to his bed and lied back down. He wasn't very tired anymore, but there wasn't really anything else for him to do. Maybe he could get back to sleep though, it would be better then laying in bed for hours doing nothing but thinking.

The sound of rain began beating on his bedroom window, not that he gave it much thought. He always liked the rain, it was water that could completely cover him without being scared. Apparently not being as awake as he thought, the pattering sound of blue raindrops quickly lulled him to sleep.

Cooro had always hated the rain. It was cold and leaked into his shoes and people were never very happy on rainy days. Said rain beat down on him, soaking his clothes through as he quickly made his way home from school. Mother Superior had reminded him to take an umbrella, saying that this was going to happen, but he'd forgotten in his morning stupor.

Rushing into the backdoor of the church, the black haired boy ran up the stairs to his room, dropping his book bag on the floor before changing into some clothes that didn't freeze him to the bone. Freeze. That reminded him, winter was coming. They still needed to find proper housing for Senri. Cooro wondered how long the teen had lived out in the woods all by himself. Was it as long as he'd been near silent? If so, then it was longer then Cooro had known him. How had he survived those winters?

Staring out the window, the black haired boy was reminded of another reason he hated rainy days. It was always so boring. He couldn't go outside, he didn't want to do his homework, and he didn't feel like drawing.

Leaning back on his bed, Cooro sighed. He wasn't really tired either. He knew he shouldn't complain though, if they didn't have rain, life wouldn't exist and all that bad stuff, but that didn't mean he couldn't be bored when it happened, like now.

"Cooro!" the voice of Mother Superior rang up to his room, quickly managing to bring the eleven year old out of his thoughts.

"Yes?" he called back, wondering if he'd done something wrong. Glancing towards the floor by his door, he saw his wet book bag and soaked shoes. No, they were up here, it wasn't that.

"Telephone!" the black haired boy quickly sprung up from his bed at this. He didn't get phone calls very often. He wasn't even sure who had his number. Husky did, maybe it was him. Jumping over his book bag, he made his way down the stares to where the old nun was waiting, phone in hand.

"I'm here," he quickly said to Mother Superior before taking the phone from her, the woman then leaving to both give the boy some privacy and take care of her own business. "Hello, Cooro speaking, who's this?" the black haired boy cheerfully said into the phone.

"Um, hi Cooro. It's me, Nana, um, are you alone?" Nana asked, her voice coming in as a whisper over the phone. The black haired boy nodded before remembering he that she couldn't see him.

"Yep, why? Oh and how'd you get my number?" he asked, not sounding creeped out or anything, simply curious.

"Oh, I just looked up the church's number in the phonebook," the black haired boy make a small 'oh' sound. That made sense, he did live in a public church. "Well anyway, you left your sketchbook at lunch, and I ended up missing you after school," the brown haired girl explained.

"Really? Oh thanks, I'll just get it from you tomorrow, it's not exactly fun walking in the rain," Cooro said, not even having noticed that the worn out old book was missing. He needed to get a new one soon, almost all the pagers were filled up by now. On the other end of the line, Nana nodded absentmindedly, holding the sketchbook open in her lap. Stopping on the page of the angle without a face, she brought her attention back towards Cooro.

"Hey Cooro, do you think that your pictures have anything to do with what's happening?" she asked, catching the black haired boy a bit off guard. They hadn't talked about the meanings behind his drawings in a while.

"Um, maybe. I mean, the picture of Senri is pretty much a giveaway, but the other ones, probably not. They're just images from dreams, they don't really mean anything," he said, walking over to the small table in the kitchen and sitting down. Nana frowned, shifting the phone a bit as she turned a page before continuing.

"Yeah, but aren't dreams a whole part of this too? I mean, you got your wings when you had a dream," she defended, and Cooro shrugged.

"I guess, but we just shouldn't count on any of the people in my pictures to suddenly appear if I didn't base them off of someone I really know, you know?" he said, and Nana just sighed. He did have a point, but it didn't feel right. Usually Cooro was the one proposing theories, not shooting them down. Flipping a few more pages, she came across some more recent pictures that she hadn't seen before, two of them of Husky. One had him underwater, beginning to transform into his fish form, and another of him sleeping. Cooro really was a great artist.

"You're probably right. So, I'll give the sketchbook to you tomorrow?" She asked, deciding it would probably be best to just change the subject. Something about it seemed to unsettle the black haired boy. A lot of the pictures based on dreams were on the more disturbing side, even if the subject seemed perfectly normal. Like that scientist man…

"Yep, that'll be great. Well, is there anything else you wanted to talk about?" Cooro asked, his tone back to it's normal cheerfulness, the underlying tension gone from his voice. Nana quickly glanced around her dim lit kitchen before answering.

"Not really. I actually should be going now, so I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?" the green eyed girl said, beginning to walk over to the telephone receiver.

"Okay, see you tomorrow, bye!" Cooro said happily and Nana nodded, although it was more instinctive body language then anything, knowing full well that she couldn't be seen.

"Bye," she repeated before hanging up. Grabbing the sketchbook, she swiftly walked to her room, making sure to be extra quiet while passing her parents'. Her dad was asleep, he didn't really like to be waked up when he wasn't ready, and her mother was at work, like normal.

Closing the door, she sat down on her bed, moving several stuffed animals out of the way in the process. Pushing a few strands of hair out of her face, she started flipping through the sketchbook for a third time. She'd done it once before calling Cooro, another while on the phone, and now. There was just something about the pictures that seemed familiar. Sure, it wasn't always in a good way, but from what had suddenly decided to ensnare her life, it probably wasn't the best idea to just ignore those things.

Like Cooro was. There was definitely something about the dream inspired pictures he didn't like, she could tell. The pictures that weren't dream related, like Senri with his arm or the sketches of Husky he was fine with, but those others. It didn't make any sense though, why would he draw them if they, what was the word for it? Scared him?

Staring at the detailed sketch of a man in a scientist like coat and glasses, Nana's frown deepened. Something _wasn't right_ about it. No matter what she did though, she just couldn't place it.

Closing the worn book, she placed it inside her book bag as not to forget it in the morning. She couldn't figure out who that man was now, but she would. Maybe after she got her…. Whatever it was those powers the other three had were called, she would be able to.

After hanging up, Cooro went back to his room. That was fun, he didn't get the chance to talk to Nana as much as he wanted to. Not to mention it was a good distraction from his boredom and not about the more emotional issues they were dealing with right now.

Laying back on his bed, he wondered what Husky and Senri were doing right now. Husky was probably still recovering emotionally, as Keane obviously was. He should probably check the newspaper, find out when the funeral was and all that.

With Senri, he had no idea, which didn't do anything but worry him. He never had any idea with Senri. Even since all of this had started, he still knew little to nothing about him, except that now he had a bear arm and lived alone in the woods in the park. It wasn't his fault though, the teen just wouldn't talk.

Sighing, he tried to turn his mind to more positive subjects, not that there were that many left at this point. Finally deciding on the oh so positive and fun subject of homework, he decided to just get it finished as to not have his grade fall even more behind then what it was from all the abscesses, and pass the time.

There never was much to do on rainy days.

* * *

Hurray. Next chapter done, and we get the first glimpse of Nana's home life, and it only took 25 chapters to do. As many of you have requested, both Nana and Senri will be having more of the limelight, I'm just easing into it. I hope it isn't boring for you though. I'm trying to find the right balance between super rushed and endless description.

Well, please review.


	27. Chapter 27

Hi y'all. I'm back again. Only a little over a month until the one year anniversary, I'm excited, although I still can't figure out what I should do for it. Suggestions? How big it'll be will depend on how much time I have, but I'll definitely do something.

Chapter 27

Husky hadn't realized just how long he could spend sleeping. He'd slept through most of Tuesday, not that the rain had helped much. When he wasn't sleeping he was just sitting in his room. He didn't know what else to do. Keane was a wreak and probably wanted to be left alone, and his dad wasn't much better, and busy with the funeral arrangements and police documents, not to mention seeming to what nothing to do with the boy.

So he slept through Tuesday, but now he was unable to do absolutely anything. He couldn't even go and see Cooro or anyone, since it was only one, and they were all still in school. It wasn't that he wasn't upset about Dylana either, he was! There was just only so much time one could spend sitting in a room grieving. The silver haired boy was still grieving, but okay, if he kept going he was probably just going to start digging himself deeper. Maybe he should go see if Keane was okay though, just to be on the safe side.

Sitting up from his bed, he made his way over the entrance to the red head's room before stopping. Now he was nervous. Running his hand down his face slowly he sighed, all this was getting really annoying, He hated not being in full control of his emotions. Opening the door, he decided to just give up on trying for now, even if dropping a habit like that was much easier said then done.

Husky never went into Keane's room very often. It was a lot like his, if a little bigger and a light shade of burnt umber instead of grey blue. Keane himself was sitting at a desk pushed up against a side wall, although right now he was turned around to face whoever'd come into his room.

He was dressed in a different outfit from yesterday, causing the silver boy to become slightly conscious that he was still in his pajamas, but decided to just ignore it for now. It wasn't important anyway.

"Hey Keane… sorry if I'm bothering you," the ten year old said, not used to hearing his voice sound so meek. He tried to tell himself that it was for Keane's benefit. The red head needed as much calmness as he could get right now. Keane shook his head at the apology though, and Husky took it as a sigh to come in.

"You okay?" the older boy asked as his brother took an awkward seat on his bed. Husky blinked in confusion for a moment. Was Keane really asking him this right now? Shouldn't it be the other way around? He wasn't the one who'd just lost his mother.

"Y-yeah! I'm fine, are _you_ okay?" the silver boy asked back. Keane simply nodded and turned back to his desk, leaving Husky just a bit confused. Did he look like something was wrong with him, or was the red head just being polite? Shaking his head, he decided to stop looking so deep into it. Standing up, he walked over to where the older boy was sitting, trying to see what he could be up to.

"Um, what are you doing?" he asked as he peered over Keane's shoulder. There wasn't anything on the desk, it was just blank. Following his brother's gaze, he saw he was just staring out the window towards the horizon.

"Nothing," well, he wasn't lying, at least. Deflating slightly, Husky wasn't sure if he sounded annoyed or just tired, probably a little of both. It was best to just ask, he didn't want to wait too long and find out the hard way, after all.

"Look, you're not going to… do anything drastic, right? I mean, you can be sad and all, I get that, but you're not about to try and follow your mom's example, right? Because you'd be an idiot if you did," okay, maybe he shouldn't of said that last part, but it just slipped out. He never was the most tactful person in the world. In fact, none of what he'd just said was put very well. Damn it, what if he just made Keane worse? The older boy simply shook his head though, interrupting the beginning strand of Husky's self-deprecating thoughts.

"No Myrrah, I'll be fine, really. Thanks for asking, though," he mumbled, almost smiling, but not quite. It was enough for the silver haired boy though, who visibly relaxed, then cursed himself for doing it.

"Um, no problem. So… do you want me to leave now, or…?" Husky trailed off, not quite sure where he was going with that. He didn't need to though, the red head able to fill in the rest of his sentence easily enough, shrugging in a show of indifference.

"You can stay if you want, I don't mind," he said, not taking his eyes from the window. Husky walked back over to the bed and sat down. There was another chair in the corner of the room, but he preferred to sit on beds for some reason. He was pretty sure most people did, actually, it was just more comfortable that way.

"I'll just stay until school lets out. I'm going to go see Cooro after that, if it's okay with you, that is," the silver boy decided. Hopefully Cooro didn't mind if he dropped by for a little bit. He was sure he wouldn't, but maybe he should call beforehand, just in case? Before he could decide on what to do, Keane shook his head as to answer his question.

"I already said it was fine, so don't worry," Husky had to admit, he was impressed with how much Keane was talking already. It'd been what, four, five days?…Three? Damn, he couldn't remember, that probably wasn't a good sign. Well, the point was it hadn't been that long. Well, as long as it meant the red head was going to be alright he was fine.

He wondered if this was what Keane had felt like when he'd first come to live here. Sure, it probably wasn't exact, the situation was quite a bit different, and they hadn't really known or been hospitable to each other much before that. Still, Keane had tried to be as, um, accepting? He guessed he could call it, as he could. Probably shouldn't of been as cold to him as he had been. It really was a bit demented that they only really started to get along after Dylana tried to kill him.

Well, even though the situations leading up to it were a bit… gruesome, to say the least, he was glad they were finally getting along. It was nice to actually have a brother, and not just that weird kid who had the same dad that he always ended up fighting with at holidays.

Cooro made sure to wait for Nana at her locker the next morning to pick up his sketchbook. After a few minutes of waiting, he saw the brunette walking towards him in the crowded hallway. Pushing himself off the locker he'd been leaning against, the eleven year old waved at his friend slightly.

"Hey Cooro," Nana said as she placed her book bag on the floor before zipping it open. She quickly pulled the sketchbook out and handed it to it's original owner before turning to her locker in order to get the few books she needed for her own classes. It wasn't even that they really needed lockers, they didn't have that many books, but they were built into the school, so it'd be a waste not to use them.

"Thanks again, I hadn't even realized I'd left it yesterday," Cooro said happily, leaning back against the lockers. Class wouldn't start for a few more minutes, and he didn't want to sit in the classroom alone with nothing to do. Nana simply shrugged at him as she placed her bagged lunch at the top of her locker.

"No problem, you seemed kind of out of it," the brunette said, trying to close the dented metal door without causing it to slam. It was easier said then done.

"Yeah, I guess we've all been out of it a little," the boy said, trying to keep a light tone to his voice. It worked mostly, and Nana had to nod in agreement. It'd be a little worrying if they were perfectly fine.

"Have you heard from Husky since you went to visit him?" the green eyed girl asked, and Cooro shook his head. Sure it was just the other day, but that didn't stop either of them from wondering about what could happen in any amount of time that they didn't hear from him. They didn't want to just go over unannounced or bother them with a bunch of phone calls either. He probably needed his space, but that didn't make waiting any easier. They were just kids, after all.

"Maybe I'll call him after school today, just to see if he's alright, and ask about the funeral and stuff," the black haired boy said finally, and Nana nodded in agreement.

"If you do, tell me what he says. Well, class'll start soon, see you at lunch," the brunette said, and Cooro promised he would before heading off in the direction of his own, jumbled and loud mess of a classroom.

It was a little strange, people tended to mostly leave him alone now a days. Even Selim hadn't said much of anything to him since Keane had intervened that one time. Needless to say, he was grateful, there was no way he could handle everyday problems on top of everything else. Of course, the everyday problems didn't seem that big anymore, not by a long shot.

When the bell for lunch rang out, he quickly placed his books back into his bag, mostly out of habit then anything. There really wasn't a rush to get to the cafeteria, but he didn't like being in the hallways alone too much. Cooro didn't get his chance to leave with the crowd though, Ms. Brighton asking for him to stay after for a moment.

Standing in front of her desk, Cooro tried to think of a reason as to why she wanted him. He'd been more consistent with school, so it wasn't like he'd been absent lately. Did he fail something? He was pretty sure that didn't happen, so there was really only one other thing he could think of that this could possibly be about.

"Cooro, you're friends with Husky, correct?" and bingo. The black haired boy nodded, wondering now what the scatterbrained teacher would want him to do. They _had _called the school and told them why the silver boy was absent, right? They had to after what Keane pulled, probably. She couldn't possibly want him to deliver homework or something like that with what he was going through. School was important, but not that important. Maybe a teacher would think different though.

"I'd heard about what happened, is everything alright? He's still staying with his father, correct?" the young woman asked, a concerned tone to her voice. Oh, so she was just worried about him? That was good, he hadn't pinned her as one of those psycho teachers anyway.

"Yeah, I think it's okay for the most part. He probably wont be in school for a while, but I saw him Monday and he didn't seem too bad. Um, he didn't say anything about leaving, so I guess so," Cooro said, trying to make sure he answered each question. He didn't want to get too detailed though, incase Husky didn't want him to talk about any of his personal life, which seemed very likely knowing the secretive boy. It suddenly occurred to him that secretive was actually pretty easily interchangeable with shy in this case, no matter how much Husky'd try to deny it.

"Alright, that's good, it'd be terrible if the poor boy had to go through the same thing twice so close together," the black haired lady said absently, piping Cooro's interest despite just thinking about how the silver haired boy wouldn't want people talking about his personal life. Just ignore it, if Husky wanted you to know he'd tell you.

"Twice?" stupid mouth. Well, maybe Ms, Brighton would tell him he shouldn't snoop and send him off to lunch.

"Yes, you didn't know? Husky had moved in with his father after his mother had died in a car crash about a month before he came to school. I understand the situation is a bit different this time around, but it'd still be terrible if the boy was forced to move again after just getting settled in," the well-meaning woman explained. Cooro simply nodded, agreeing with her. "Well, you should get off to lunch now, if you see Husky tell him I'm sorry for his loss," the black haired boy nodded for a second time, turning out to the hallway and towards the cafeteria.

"Why were you late?" Nana asked as Cooro sat down at their usual table with his lunch in hand. He couldn't stop thinking about what Ms. Brighton had told him. Sure, he'd had his suspicions, and he'd know that Husky had lived with his mother up until a short while ago, it really shouldn't be bothering him as much as it was.

"Hello, earth to Cooro? You there?" the brunette asked, waving at the dazed boy in an attempt to grab his attention. Cooro jumped slightly, but quickly tried to shrug it off, nodding at his friend.

"Yep, I'm fine, just thinking," he said, not sure if he wanted to tell Nana or not. Would Husky be mad at him?

"Why were you late?" the girl asked again, and Cooro still wasn't sure on his decision. Husky might already be mad at him for finding out from someone other then him, but if he talked about it, that would just make it worse, right?

"Ms. Brighton wanted to know if Husky was okay, that's all," he said, trying to keep his voice sounding light. He did a pretty good job for all the weight on his mind, even if it didn't seem to completely satisfy Nana, but he hadn't expected it to. It wouldn't of fully worked on Husky or Senri either.

"Did she say something? She knows what happened, right?" the brunette asked, probably going through some of the same thoughts Cooro had when the young teacher had started talking to him. Cooro shook his head though, finally deciding against telling Nana about what he'd found out. She most likely wouldn't of found it that surprising anyway, it wasn't that surprising.

"No, just normal stuff, she hopes he's okay and things like that. I'm just kind of tired is all," the black haired boy tried, and Nana reluctantly nodded at his explanation. So it wasn't the perfect excuse, but it was good enough for something he really shouldn't even be having trouble hiding anyway.

"Alright… you still going to call him after school?" she asked finally, changing the subject slightly. Cooro nodded, taking a bit out of his sandwich. They were out of apples again, although he'd barely noticed anymore. He hadn't eaten as many since he and Husky had had their little apple dinner.

Lunch ended without any other noteworthy events, and the two headed off to their separate classes. He paid less attention in the afternoon then he had in the morning, but it was still a bit better then he had been able to lately. With the end of class, Cooro once again packed up quickly, and this time was able to get out without any sort of distractions or hindrances.

On the walk home, the black haired boy tried to figure out why what Ms. Brighton had said wouldn't leave him alone. It was obvious the woman had to of died, the only other option was that she suddenly decided to abandon her son, which really wasn't much, if any better. Maybe it was as simple as what the scatterbrained woman had said, it really was terrible that he had to go through something like that twice. Sure, Dylana wasn't exactly a mother figure to him, but there was still something there. She was his brother's mom.

A thought crept into his head, and Cooro wished slightly that he had talked to Nana about it, because he had no idea what to do. He didn't have a mother, or a father, or anyone, and he had _no idea_ how Husky had to of felt, sure he had his friends, and he cared about them more then anything, but that couldn't possibly be the same.

His best friend had lost so much, and he couldn't even fathom what it could have been like, and that's what bothered him the most.

* * *

Yay chapter, and it's much later then I should be up on a school night, but I was on a roll, so I hope you're happy. Sorry about the lack of action as of late, but I hope you like the bit of breather chapters. I'm not sure it's so much the story needs them then the characters do. If I put too much too fast, there's no way I could keep it from at least one of them jumping over the edge before my backspace can save them.

Well, Please review.


	28. Chapter 28

Hello internet. It's spring break, and you know what that means. Updates all around. I actually have something a little important to say before the chapter starts though.

So for the last 27 chapters, I've been spelling Husky's real name as Myrrah. Well, a very, very helpful person who reviewed my other +anima story happened to point out to me that that's wrong. It's Myrrha. From here on out I will be using that spelling. I _would_ go back and change all the spellings but… that's so much work. Heh, sorry, you got a lazy one here. I hope this doesn't bother anyone though.

Chapter 28

Husky walked down the sidewalk towards the small church. He wondered vaguely if he should of called beforehand, but wasn't really sure what to say, especially if that old nun answered the phone, which she probably would. She was nice and all, she let him stay there without ever asking for any real explanation, but he had no trouble admitting he wasn't exactly the most sociable person. Surely Cooro wouldn't mind anyway.

Reaching the church he quickly decided to head around back to the entrance the black haired boy mostly used. It would be weird if some worshippers were inside while he just walked on up the isle and into the place where all the priests and stuff went. At least he thinks it where the priests go, unless they weren't called priests. He never was a very religious person, he really couldn't tell you what half the things in church were called or used for.

Knocking on the door, the silver boy hoped Cooro was home. It was after school, he should be. What if he had decided not to go straight home though? He should have called to make sure he was actually home. Maybe he should head back to the house and call, they might not of heard the knocking.

Before he was able to decide whether or not to head home the door opened, revealing a slightly tired looking Cooro.

"Uh, hey. Sorry if I'm bothering you," Husky said, not really used to coming over to someone's house unannounced. He barely went over to people's homes when they had set plans. The black haired boy shook his head though, not appearing upset in the least, or even really surprised for that matter.

"No problem. Wanna come upstairs?" the older boy asked, moving out of the doorway in order to let Husky inside. The silver haired boy nodded, and the two walked up to Cooro's room, neither saying anything on the way. It felt strange, after having lived there for over a month to be back so soon after leaving. Maybe he should of stuck out the boredom for a little longer before heading over, but Cooro said he didn't mind.

"So, how's everything been?" the black haired boy asked once they were both seated. Husky shrugged, it'd been less then two days since they'd last seen each other, and he mainly slept through one of them.

"Fine I guess. I was just kind of bored…" Husky mumbled, not really sure if that was the best thing to say after someone in your family just died. It didn't look like Cooro was offended though, he just nodded, seeming a little out of it actually. "Hey, are you okay?" the silver haired boy asked after a small silence.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking," the eleven year old said, turning away from the window towards his friend. Husky frowned, a rather unamused look on his face.

"Oh yeah, like I haven't heard that one before. What's wrong?" he asked again, almost positive that that Cooro wasn't telling the truth. The black haired boy looked a little surprised at how directly Husky had addressed it, but quickly recovered from it. It would probably be better if he told the younger boy what was bothering him anyway, he probably wouldn't be mad at him, it wasn't like he made Ms. Brighton tell him.

"It's nothing, really, Ms. Brighton told me to tell you she's sorry for your loss," Cooro said, not really sure how to go about saying that he knew what had happened to his real mother and even though he didn't know if it was ever actually a secret it was bothering him because he had absolutely no way to relate. It wasn't a big deal, if he didn't have to tell Husky he wouldn't.

"Um, tell her thanks, I guess," Husky mumbled before sighing slightly. He didn't like that Cooro wasn't telling him what was the matter, but wasn't sure if he should keep pressuring him to say it. "Are you sure it's nothing?"

"I promise. If it was something important, I'd tell you first, don't worry," the black haired boy said, a lighter tone to his voice then there had been a moment ago. Husky just nodded, there was no use trying to force it out of him now. Hopefully what Cooro had said was true though, and it wasn't actually important. Of course, he could be telling the truth from him point of view, but that didn't mean that Husky might think it was important.

"Okay, if you say so," he said after a while, and Cooro was grateful that he decided to let it go for now.

"So, how's Keane? He tried to come to school the other day, but me and Nana didn't think he should be there, so we told the office," the black haired boy said, deciding it was probably best to change the subject at this point.

"Yeah, my dad told me. Thanks for that, we didn't know he went He's doing better though… Just kind of in shock, I think," Husky explained. Cooro nodded, he figured that Husky hadn't known about Keane coming when it happened, or else he would have been right behind him trying to drag the redhead back home.

It was silent for the next few minutes, neither boy quite sure where to head next in their conversation. Even though he was still sitting in silence, Husky had to admit it was better then the same thing at home. He would say it was because he had less problems when he was at Cooro's, but that wasn't true. He just turned in his family troubles for a whole separate set. Sighing slightly, the ten year old figured now was as good a time as any to try and address some of them.

"So, what are we going to do about Senri and Nana?" he asked bluntly, causing Cooro's head to turn towards him rather sharply, confusion emanate on his face.

"What do you mean?" Husky shrugged, not entirely sure where he was going with this, but knew it was something they would have to address, and soon. The longer they tried to put it off, the higher the chances of it sneaking up on them in the worse possible way. Like Dylana…

"You know. We have to figure out some place to keep Senri during the winter so he doesn't freeze to death, but apparently he doesn't want to stay at the church and as for Nana she _still_ hasn't gotten any weird animal powers even though all signs lead to it happening. I mean, should we just sit back and wait for it to happen? Or should we, I don't know, try and prevent it, or something," the silver boy explained, and Cooro was a bit surprised that he wanted to try and deal with all that so soon after everything with his home life. They hadn't even had the funeral yet…

"Yeah, I guess you're right, we do need to figure out what to do about that," he agreed. "I could ask Senri again, I mean, he shouldn't have any real reason not to want to stay at the church, we really don't mind," Husky nodded in agreement.

"That's probably the only thing we can do for now," he said. Well, now that that was settled, it only leaved one other major problem still on the table. "So… Nana?" the silver boy asked again, still unsure himself on what he wanted to do. Maybe if they knew what caused these weird mutations, but Senri couldn't remember, and while Husky's was after some severe trauma and life endangering events, Cooro's trigger had simply been a bad dream…

"I don't know… we should probably ask Nana what she wants to do," the black haired boy decided after a moment. Husky sighed slightly before giving in and nodding.

"Do you have her number or something?" he asked, and Cooro nodded before standing up to head out of the room.

"Yep, she called the other day, so it should still be on the color I.D," he said, about to leave. Husky frowned though, tilting his head a bit in confusion.

"What?" he asked, causing the other boy to stop in the doorway and turn back around.

"I said she called the other day, so her number should still be on the color I.D," the black haired boy repeated, although it did nothing to stop the confused expression still on his friend's face.

"You mean caller…" he said after a moment, now leaving Cooro in bewilderment.

"Huh?" he asked, and Husky shook his head before explaining.

"You said color ID, it's called a _caller _ID, because it has the identity of the _caller_," the younger boy explained. Cooro remained confused for a few more seconds before it sunk in, causing him to rub his head sheepishly.

"Haha, ohhhh, that makes sense. I always thought it was color. Well, I'll go check the _caller_ ID," the black haired boy said, chuckling at his misunderstanding under his breath. Husky simply shook his head to himself, trying to figure out how anyone could of possibly though it was a color ID. I mean, it did sound similar, but what did colors have to do with anything?

Reaching the phone, Cooro searched through the numbers until he reached what he was pretty sure was Nana's. Her last name was Alba, right? Shrugging to himself, he hit the redial button, listening to the rings as he waited for whoever was on the other end to pick up.

"Hello, Alba residence. My father's not home right now, but if you want I can leave a message and-" Nana's voice said over the phone, and Cooro smiled to himself.

"Hi Nana!" he said happily, cutting the girl off in the middle of her rehearsed sounding speech. It sounded a lot like a answering machine, really. The brunette was at a temporary loss for words due to the unexpectedness of it all, but quickly recovered from it.

"Hey Cooro. How'd you get my number…?" she asked, confusion very clean in her voice.

"Caller ID" the black haired boy said cheerfully, and Nana nodded, although that was answered there was still a bewilderment for her about the situation.

"Oh okay. Um, is something wrong?" she asked. She just wasn't used to people calling her all that much, even if she had just called Cooro yesterday. Almost every phone call was for her dad, not to mention the eleven year old had said he was going to try and call Husky after school. Did something happen? Why would he sound happy though?

"No not really. Husky came over and he was wondering what we should do about you, since nothing's happened yet, and we thought we should ask you about it, since it should be your choice after all. Can you come over?" he asked, and Nana quickly scanned her living room before making a decision.

"Sure, I'll be right there, but um Cooro?" She asked, looking around for a second time to make sure that no one else was nearby.

"Yeah?" he answered, wondering what the problem could be, before realizing it was most likely what he had been thinking just a little while ago. His suspicion was confirmed once the brunette started to continue.

"Is it a good idea for Husky to be worrying about all this right now? I mean, he's not exactly having the easiest home life at the moment, he shouldn't be putting even more on his plate to worry about. You saw his brother, um, whatshisname, but yeah, I don't want that to happen to Husky too," Nana whispered into the phone, more on instinct then actually thinking someone was listening. It was more like she didn't want Husky to hear then her mother.

"I know, but this was Husky's idea. I think he's trying to distract himself, really. I'm sure he'll be fine, and we do need to figure this all out, so now's a good a time as any, I guess," the black haired boy explained, and Nana sighed, figuring that he did have a point. As long as no one went over the edge.

"Alright, well, I'll be there in maybe ten minutes, see ya," she said, and Cooro nodded before she hung up the phone.

"Okay, see ya," he said, placing the phone back into it's holder and heading back up to his room to tell Husky about the conversation. Well, some of it, he'd leave out the part about the silver boy himself. He didn't like other people worrying about him. "I'm back," he called as he walked into his room, finding Husky sitting on his bed, staring out the window in boredom. At least, it might have been boredom, Cooro really couldn't tell.

"Hey, what did Nana say?" he asked, turning away from the scenery. The black haired boy quickly summarized their conversation before telling him that she would be there in about ten minutes. Husky nodded slightly at this. "Good, so we just wait, I guess," he said, mumbling the last part slightly.

"Yep," Cooro said, and the two did just that. It ended up taking closer to fifth teen minutes, but soon enough they heard the green eyed girl knocking on the door.

"Hey, sorry I'm late. There was this guy who kept trying to sell me a broken kite for some reason," she explained, earning a slightly befuddled expression from both boys. "W-well," she started again, laughing nervously slightly, "should we go up to Cooro's room?" the two nodded in response to her question and the three quickly walked up to the black haired boy's room, which was quickly starting to become the meeting place for important events.

"So, you guys wanted to talk about…?" Nana began, and Husky quickly picked up her hanging sentence.

"We wanted to talk about the fact that's nothing's happened to you yet. If our guess is still right and you do get a… weird… animal power thing… then what should we do? I mean, if we knew what was causing them, then maybe we could plan something, but Cooro's and mine came in such different ways, and Senri doesn't remember…" Husky explained to the girl, who nodded in understanding.

"Well, if we don't know, then there isn't really anything we can do, right?" Nana asked, and Husky really didn't have an answer to that. She had a point. What _could_ they do? It didn't stop his feeling that they should though. What if it was something terrible, like what happened to him? What if that was why Senri was living alone in the woods? Cooro's said he'd been acting strange for as long as he'd known him, and the bear tattoo had only came recently, although that didn't really ease the silver boy's mind any.

"Hey Nana, do you want to have powers too?" Cooro asked in the silence. The brown haired girl blinked, not having expected the question or really that sure on how she was suppose to answer it.

"What do you mean? It's not really like I'll have a choice. None of you were able to choose," she asked, but Cooro shook his head.

"No, I mean, do you want them. Even if you don't have a choice, you can still not want it to happen," the black haired boy explained, earning a small stare from the other two occupants of the room. After a few moments, Nana sighed softly, keeping her eyes to the floor.

"I guess not, but that doesn't matter," lifting her head back up, she decided to go sit on the bed with Husky, since Cooro was sitting on the only chair in the room and her feet were getting kind of tired. "Anyway," she said, ignoring the silver boy scooting away to lead against the wall. Some things never change. "What should we do now? If there isn't anything we can do to stop the animal thing, should we just wait for it to happen?" the two others shrugged in response.

"As much as I hate to say it, that's all we _can_ do," Husky mumbled, and Cooro nodded in agreement. The silver boy wasn't lying when he said he hated it. It felt terrible being so powerless. He couldn't do anything at home, and he couldn't do anything here either.

"Just remember to tell us as soon as it happens, and watch out for bats," Cooro said, and while the first part made sense, he only managed to receive even more stares for the last, which he was quick to correct. "You know, it was an origami bat I gave you, so watch out for any bats," Nana couldn't help but smile and nod, not that she understood.

"Don't worry, I will," she said. After a few minutes, Husky sighed before standing up off the bed and stretching.

"Well, I should start heading back soon. My dad probably won't want me out too long, and I have to keep an eye on Keane…" he said, although he wasn't really sure if his dad would even notice he was gone in the first place. He'd been off for over a month and nothing happened, but it was true when he said he needed to watch Keane. The red head said he wasn't going to do anything, but Husky wasn't about to take any chances. Cooro nodded, standing up from his chair as well.

"Okay, tell him I said hi," the black haired boy said, and Husky just nodded, mind already elsewhere. He wondered what they were going to have for dinner, his father never cooked. They had takeout last night, they probably would again today. He should probably learn how to cook for himself, he hated all that greasy junk, but that was what they were most likely going to be having for a while.

"I should probably head home too," Nana said, and Cooro quickly made his goodbyes to her as well. Soon, he was the only one left in his room, and quickly laid back down on his bed. He had been about to go to take a nap and then call the silver boy when Husky had shown up himself, not that he minded. He was glad that he got to see both of them. At least Husky was doing better then his brother.

Closing his eyes, he hoped that their guess was wrong, and Nana wouldn't get a… weird… bat wings and stuff… they really needed a name for that. Whatever, he just hoped it wouldn't happen. They had so many other things to worry about, especially Husky.

It wasn't like they could prevent it though, even if they knew the cause. It was kind of like destiny, at least that's how he saw it. There was a reason for all this to happen, even if it didn't seem like it right now.

That's what he needed to believe, anyway. If all this was happening without a cause… well then, Cooro would make one up. It was better then just meaningless despair, that was for sure.

* * *

Hurray, done (although I didn't end up using Myrrha at all this time). Boy, this chapter was dialogue heavy, wasn't it? Sorry if you felt nothing happened, but don't worry, I promise the action will be back next chapter, but in time for the one year anniversary. Yay.  
As for the color/caller ID thing, that was something that happened to me a little while back. For freakin years man, I thought it was color ID. Don't ask why, I just did. I try and put things like that in here to make it seem more realistic, although I'm not very sure how effective it is.

Well, I hope you liked it, and please review.


	29. Chapter 29

Happy anniversary, happy anniversary, happy anniversary, haaaaappy anniversary! Haha, well, it's been exactly one year since I started uploading this story, probably closer to two since I started writing it out. Definitely the longest that I've been continuously working on a single story. I feel like I've become a much better writer over this time, looking over the original copy of the first few chapters, they weren't too good. I'd like to thank everyone who's followed since the beginning, and anyone else who's pick it up along the way, and don't worry, the secrets of the plot will be unraveled soon.

Chapter 29

She couldn't breath, and she could barely see. They_ had _to keep going though, there wasn't any choice! They just had to keep running… running… running… She couldn't even remember who they were running from, or who she counted in the they were, but if they stopped now something terrible would happen. Up ahead in the hallway it would be easier to breath and see, she didn't know how she knew, but she did.

They couldn't stop running, but without even turning around she could tell her companion had. What was he thinking? They had to keep going and find the others, whoever they were, or they would all die. They couldn't stop now, or they'd end up dead.

As she turned around to angrily voice her complaint at her hesitant companion, a sickening feeling from inside bubbled up, nearly mocking her. It was impossible for them to end up dead, if they already were…

Nana shot up in her bed, panting heavily, with eyes darting around the room. It took several minutes for her body to relax enough for her to even attempt to think. T-that dream… it was just a dream. Just a dream. She didn't believe that in the least, but that's what she had to tell herself. It wasn't real, it had nothing to do with anything Cooro and Husky's been talking about. She's not dead. She's not dead…

The sun was just beginning to lift itself over the horizon line by the time the mini panic spells had stopped. Oh well, that was fine, she needed to get ready and go to school anyway. She needed to tell Husky and Cooro about her dream, they had said several times to tell them if anything like that had happened. It might not mean anything though, Cooro was the one who saw strange visions in his dreams that he drew. Sure, Husky had the one where he drowned… and then it kind of happened… and there was her recurring nightmare… but that didn't mean it had to be something…

Shaking her head, she quickly tried to push all thoughts about the dream out of her mind just long enough to quickly make herself presentable and head out the door. She didn't bother with breakfast, her appetite not very demanding at the moment.

Walking into school, it was still pretty early. There weren't many students there yet, so the brown haired girl took her time as she placed several books into her small locker. The others probably wouldn't show up for a while. Husky probably wouldn't come at all, not that she blamed him. Even though he had seemed to be doing quite a bit better yesterday, it still didn't seem like such a good idea.

Leaving her locker, Nana started to wander around the hallways of the school, not paying too much attention to where she was heading, but making sure not to head too far off into the middle school section incase Cooro decided to come early. She hoped he did, half hoping he would tell her she was being silly with this dream, and that it didn't mean anything. It wasn't even clear what had happened, just running.

Slowly more students began filing into the school, most in a sleepy daze. Soon enough she caught sight of Cooro making his way up the hallway, thankfully alone. Sure, she wanted to tell Husky about the dream too, but she didn't want him to push himself. Cooro had told her about the breakdown he'd had when he came back to school too early last time, and didn't want anything like that to happen again.

"Hey Cooro," the brunette called as she walked up to him, trying to appear calm and normal. Cooro smiled at her and quickly made his way over.

"Hi Nana, good morning," he said as he went over to his locker, Nana following behind him. Now she was starting to get second thoughts. Maybe she should wait until lunch to try and talk to him about it, that way they would have more time. Class didn't start for a little while though, but she didn't want to worry him all class either.

"Something wrong?" the black haired boy asked, startling Nana quite a bit. Had it really been that noticeable? Quickly trying to regain her confidence and footing, she shook her head.

"No, why?" Nana said, deciding it was best to not tell him for now. She would at lunch. When they had more time to talk, and she could explain it better without worrying him, or herself. Cooro didn't seem entirely convinced though, raising one of his eyebrows in question. Nana had forgotten how good he was at reading people.

"Are you sure? You seem kind of out of it," he said, and Nana simply nodded for a second time.

"Yeah, I'm fine, don't worry. Well, talk to you at lunch, I need to talk to my teacher about something before class," She said, not quite sure why she was making an excuse to leave. She should just tell him about it. That's what they told her to do, but she just didn't want to be told it was true. It reminded her too much of Cooro's dream when he'd gotten his wings. She didn't want it to come true too.

"Alright, if you say so. See ya," Cooro said, heading down the opposite direction of the hallway towards his own class, seeing as there wasn't anything else he could do to occupy his time.

Throughout class, Cooro's mind kept wandering back to Nana as he struggled to pay attention. Something was wrong, although he couldn't figure out what. Even if she said it was nothing, she was a lot like Husky like that, and himself, actually. Senri kind of fit like that too, seeing as he didn't tell them much of anything either. The black haired boy frowned a bit at the realization. They really weren't that open with each other. Well, they were more open then with others, but it still wasn't… he wasn't sure what to call it. They trusted each other, but there was still secrets. It seemed kind of pointless and petty considering the huge secret they all held together, but here he was still keeping to himself that Ms. Brighton told him Husky's mom had died before he came.

Sitting down in his usual spot in the cafeteria, he smiled towards Nana as she walked up to him. Yep, definitely something wrong. She looked on edge for some reason, and barely took any note of him as she sat down.

"Did something happen?" the black haired boy asked. He didn't want to pry if she really didn't want to tell him, but that didn't mean he couldn't be worried and ask just one more time. Maybe she just didn't have time this morning to tell him, she had left in kind of a hurry. After a moment Nana shook her head.

"No, nothing happened…" she said after swallowing a bit of her sandwich. Cooro deflated just slightly, hoping that the brunette wouldn't actually notice. It wasn't really all that fun having his theory proven right. "I had a dream last night…" Nana mumbled after another small hesitation, catching Cooro's attention almost immediately. Something was bothering her, he knew it. It was a dream too. From past experiences, he could already tell this wasn't going to be good. No wonder she was acting strange.

"You don't think it was a normal one?" he asked, just making sure out of some unlikely hopeful chance that it had just been about her running out of quarters while on a ski trip. The green eyed girl shook her head though, and really he couldn't say that he was all that surprised. "What happened?"

"Not much… I was just running. I think it was a burning building, because there was smoke… I didn't know who was with me or anything, but there was someone, but he wasn't who I was running from. Then I woke up," Nana summarized, Cooro making sure to listen intently the entire time. A burning building… He'd had dreams kind of like that, which he was sure Nana had realized by now. "You don't think…" she said, trailing off to allow Cooro to fill in the blank himself, which he promptly did, shaking his head in a confused and submissive manner.

"I don't know… but we should get together after school. All of us," the black haired boy suggested, and Nana quickly agreed. She guessed she should be thankful that she had a warning and people helping her. Husky and Senri hadn't gotten that luxury, even though Senri couldn't even remember, but that probably wasn't a good thing, though.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," the brunette said before the bell rang, signaling their required return to classes they wouldn't be able to concentrate on.

"Okay, I'll call Husky when I get home then tell you what time, see ya then," Cooro said as he threw the remnants of his lunch into the trash. Nana nodded at this and waved slightly as she turned to head away.

"Sounds good, see ya," she said, and the two both went their separate ways before any danger of being late started to creep in. They really didn't need a detention right now, and Cooro already knew his grade was suffering due to the constant distractions and danger that kept showing up at his doorstep and in his head.

Ms. Brighton didn't keep his after again today, which he was thankful for, since he really wanted to get a hold of Husky so they could all meet up. Well, if the silver boy could that is, no telling what might be coming up there, or if he would even feel up to it, but he still wanted to be able to check as soon as possible.

Reaching the church, Cooro went inside and straight to the phone, dialing in the number Husky had given him in case he ever needed to contact him, for emergencies and otherwise. The black haired boy listened to the ringing go off several times, hoping that someone would actually pick up. If they didn't, then it probably wasn't Husky's fault, he'd just have to call Nana and tell her that he couldn't get a hold of Husky, and they'd have to do it another time.

Before he'd just about given up and was ready to move the phone away and back into it's charger, the eleven year old heard the clicking sound signaling someone had picked up.

"Hello, Sandori residence, Husky Medici speaking," the silver boy said dryly into the phone. Cooro smile at the voice, glad that not only did he get someone to pick up, but it was the person he wanted to talk to too.

"Hey Husky," the black haired boy said happily, and Husky wasn't that surprised at who it was. At least, it was better then if it was somebody from his father's work, or school for that matter. He knew Keane was upstairs in his room, and school had let out anyway, but you never know.

"Hi Cooro. Everything okay?" the silver boy asked, sitting down on a chair that was close by.

"Yeah, kinda. Well, Nana had a dream last night, and it was kind of similar to the one I had, and I thought it might be a good idea for us to all meet up in the park or something to talk about it. If you're able to, that is," Cooro explained, trying to make it out as not being a big deal. Husky nodded as he stood up again, already planning to leave as soon as they were finished talking.

"Sure, when do you want to meet?" he asked, and the older boy thought about it for a few moments before answering.

"Nana said she could come by whenever, I just have to call her after this and tell her when, so maybe a half hour from now?" Cooro decided. Husky glanced over at the clock before nodding again. It had just turned about three now, so three thirty was fine by him, he didn't think there was anything he needed to do today anyway, besides look after Keane, but he should be alright by himself for just a few hours, if that.

"Alright, I'll see you guys there then," he said, and Cooro quickly said his goodbye before hanging up. Well, that was easy, and Husky seemed to be doing alright too. Now he just had to call Nana and tell her three thirty. Hopefully Senri would already be at the park. If not, at least they kind of had a place they could check now. Which happened to be somewhere in the park… but still.

Turning his attention back to the phone, Cooro redialed with Nana's number. It didn't take as long this time for someone to pick up. "Hello, is Nana there?" he asked into the receiver.

"Hey Cooro, it's me. Did you call Husky? What time do you want to meet up?" she asked, and the black haired boy nodded slightly before answering.

"Yep, I called him. Is a half an hour okay with you?" he asked. Hopefully it wasn't too soon, but she did say she could meet them at any time, and he wanted to try and get down to the bottom of this again.

"That sounds fine, see you there," the brunette said without any hesitation.

"Okay, bye," Cooro said before hanging up the phone again. Looking at the clock, he still had twenty five minutes before three thirty, but he still had to walk there, and try and find Senri if he wasn't in plain sight, not to mention it was always a good idea to try and be a little early. Glad he hadn't bothered to take his shoes off, the black haired boy strolled off towards the direction of the park.

It didn't take him very long to reach it, only about ten minutes. He didn't see Husky or Nana waiting for him yet, so he decided to go and find Senri before they showed up. The best place to look would probably be the clearing the teen had showed them, so Cooro quickly made his way down the path and into the forest.

He didn't end up getting all the way down to the clearing, luck deciding to actually be on his side today and Senri happening to be coming up the path towards him. Cooro smiled and ran up to the grey haired teen.

"Hey Senri, you're not doing anything, are you?" Cooro asked happily, and Senri shook his head in response. "Okay, do you think you can come out to the main park with me? Nana and Husky we'll be there in a few minutes, and we wanted to all get together and try and figure out what to do about the animal powers again. You remember that, right?" the younger boy explained, and Senri nodded, briefly glancing at his arm to show that he really did. "Good, let's go then," with that, the two headed back towards the main park area before sitting down at one of the picnic tables.

It was maybe five minutes later when the two saw Husky walk through the park gates. Cooro waved him over happily, and the silver boy made his way over and slid in on the bench next to Cooro, a weary look on his face.

"Hey, how ya doing?" Cooro asked, looking his friend over a bit. Husky simply shrugged, not appearing too focused on the question.

"Fine, just a little tired. Didn't sleep much last night," he explained, and the black haired boy nodded, decided not to mention the fact that he was still in the same clothes he had been wearing yesterday, too.

"Why?" he asked, and Senri had started to take a small notice of their conversation, watching the two boys back and forth now.

"Had to help my dad with a few things, it's nothing," Husky said, not appearing to want to delve too much into that topic. Cooro simply nodded, and the three boys were quiet as they waited for the last member of there party. Twenty minutes later, and there was still no sign of her.

"What is taking that girl so long? She's the one who wanted this, right?" Husky asked, laying his head on the table in boredom. The black haired boy shrugged slightly as he looked over at his watch for the fifth time in the last five minutes.

"She's only ten minutes late, maybe something happened on the way here, like another broken kite guy, only more persistent this time" he suggested, and Husky groaned slightly.

"Then she should tell him to leave her the hell alone because she has people waiting for her," he grumbled, and Cooro couldn't help but laugh slightly. Senri just continue to periodically sweep his gaze along the park looking for the brown haired girl, although it proved just as fruitless as all the other times.

"I'm sure she's on her way right now, don't worry," the black haired boy reassured, but despite this, Husky only rolled his eyes from his spot on the picnic table.

"Who ever said I was worried? I'm just tired of waiting…" Husky mumbled, and Cooro decided it would just be easier to agree with him. Fifteen minutes later, and there was still no sighs of Nana. "… you don't know where she lives, do you?" the silver boy asked, a hint of concern emanate in his voice. Cooro shook his head sadly.

"Nope. Maybe we should go see if she's somewhere close by," Husky nodded and stood up from the table, Cooro and Senri following his example.

"You sure you told her to head to the park?" the younger boy asked, and Cooro nodded his head several times. He knew that wasn't it, it wouldn't take her this long to figure out she was in the wrong place even if he had told her the wrong place.

"Positive," Cooro said as the three made there way out of the park. Something wasn't right here, and it sent a sickening feeling all throughout Cooro's body. Please let everything be okay. Please let everything be okay. _Please_ let everything be okay. There was only so much a group of kids could handle at once. They had to figure out what was causing these animal powers before they all went insane or died from the stress.

Everything had to be okay.

* * *

Hurray, suspense and drama and cliffhangers oh my! I meant to upload a bonus chapter today as well, but some stuff happened when I went to write it, so expect that to come up within the next few days instead.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. As always, please review and thanks for sticking this out with me for so long. And to think, we're still not anywhere near the finish line. I hope nobody minds that.


	30. Chapter 30

Hello, back again, and once again completely fail in my promise of a bonus chapter. So sorry, I promise I will do it, eventually. Once school's out, so that I actually have time. Maybe once I get 100 reviews?

One other thing I have to mention before I start is that Kuwa Neko pointed out a continuality error with the dreams. I feel stupid now and don't know if I should go back and fix it, or which one to fix :( This story is getting so long, it's hard keeping everything in order. Well, I'll try my best to not mess up again from now on.

Chapter 30

The three boys made a circle of the park before ending up back at the front gate with no sign of Nana anywhere. "Maybe we should split up to look, or something?" Cooro suggested after a moment, and Husky nodded in response.

"Yeah, it's better then nothing at least, but one of us should stay here incase she finally decides to show up and stop worrying us all half to death," the silver haired boy said. Senri nodded, but all Cooro could do was smile at the last part of his statement. Boy always ended up showing how he really felt, even if he didn't actually want to.

"I thought you said you weren't worried Husky," the eleven year old said teasingly. Husky stared at him for a minute before frowning and crossing his arms across his chest, turning away from the black haired boy all the while.

"I wasn't then! Now something obviously up, or at least it better be, or that stupid girl will have to explain a whole lot, got it?" he grumbled before starting to walk down the sidewalk. "I'll go check if she's anywhere over here, you two decide who's staying to wait," he called back, and Cooro nodded as he walked away.

"Kaykay Husky, will do!" the black haired boy called, before turning to his silent companion. "So, which one of us should stay, and which one should go?" he asked, and Senri pointed towards himself before answering.

"Stay," was all he said, but it got the message across very clearly, and Cooro nodded at the decision. It seemed right for some reason, not to mention he would of ended up getting very fidgety if he was forced to sit and wait for everyone to come back, not to mention he'd probably end up leaving his post at some point to try and be of more help, but Senri wouldn't do that.

"Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can, see ya," Cooro called back as he started off in the opposite direction that Husky had gone. Really he had no real idea where he should be looking or anything, instead just following his first gut instinct whenever he had to decide which way he should turn or something like that.

He kept getting farther and farther away from the park, and in reality he should probably have headed back a while ago, when he still knew where he was, but there was something inside him that wouldn't let him. It wasn't like he'd actually find Nana by now, especially so far away from where they said they would meet, but instead of doing the sensible thing, his legs kept on leading him farther and farther into an unknown part of the town.

While it definitely wasn't the smartest thing in the world, his gut instincts hadn't been wrong yet, and something told him to keep on walking. If that something was leading him to a good thing or bad thing, he had no way of knowing.

Husky stomped down the sidewalk at first, but quickly started on a more normal, if not a little fast stroll. Where the hell could that girl be? And how long should he stay out looking for her? He probably should have figured that out before he left the others, but it was too late to turn back now, he'd just go back when he searched as much as he could, or found her.

The silver boy tried to ignore the worry building up inside him. He shouldn't overreact, but with how things have been since he'd moved here, he really didn't know what qualified as overreacting and what qualified as genuine, rational worrying. Worried that a girl he knows has turned into a half-bat creature, before, totally irrational. Now? Kind of justified. He was pretty much a mermaid after all.

She knew all this too, so why was she driving them all mad by not showing up?

There had to be a reason, and it sent shivers down the silver boy's spine. Feeling his cell phone in his pocket, he wished he had her number, then he could at least see if she was still at her house. It was on the caller ID at Cooro's house, they could call her when they went back to the park if they didn't end up finding anything.

After a while of fruitless searching, the ten year old was starting to venture into more unknown parts of the town, and decided it would probably be best to head back. Even if Nana was somewhere out there, it's be useless if he got lost and still wasn't able to find her. Then he'd just end up worrying the other two. So Husky started heading back in the direction of the park, hoping that maybe Cooro or Senri or whoever had been the one to go out looking, probably Cooro, had had better luck then he did.

Seeing the park fence coming into view, he caught sight of the tall teen leaning against the metal bars. So Cooro had been the one to go, like he thought. And he wasn't back yet either.

"Hey Senri. Um, any luck yet?" the silver boy asked, and Senri shook his head sadly. It was kind of weird, neither Husky nor Nana knew the older boy all that well, but he still seemed genuinely worried about her. Sighing, Husky leaned against the fence next to him.

"Yeah, well, let's just wait till Cooro gets back. If he doesn't find anything, then we can go to his house and try to call her," he said, trying to not sound as worried as he actually was, and doing a pretty good job, at least to himself. "Stupid girl…" he mumbled under his breath, hoping the teen didn't hear.

"Hey Senri," Husky started up again, the silence starting to become a bit boring. Senri looked down at him, and the silver boy continued, glancing at the teen's arm for a moment, "you still don't remember how you got your… bear arm thing?" He asked, and Senri shook his head sadly yet again. Husky sighed, but figured it wasn't the grey haired boy's fault. There was obviously something off with him, and in reality he was in no place to judge anybody like that, with all the problems and meds he was suppose to be taking but wasn't anymore.

"That's fine," he said, continuing to look down the street for any sign of Cooro. What was taking that boy so long, anyway? He better of found something if he was taking so long, Husky didn't need two friends missing at the same time, that was for sure.

After a while of twisting and turning in different directions, Cooro found himself outside of a small trailer park. He'd never been here before. Looking around, it didn't really seem like the most hospitable place in the world, and on the other side a forest, although he couldn't tell how big it actually was.

Looking around the mobile homes all lined up in a slightly haphazard pattern, or at least it seemed that way to the boy, he decided to head into it. It was already getting dark, and really he had no idea why he was doing this. He should be heading back to Husky and Senri as fast as he possibly could and apologize for making them wait so long, but he wasn't.

Heading through the park, there wasn't many people outside, most of them having gone in due to the increasing darkness and chill that started to fall over the area. Cooro pulled the small jacket he was wearing closer to him at the thought of the temperature. He just had to check out the forest, then he would head back to where the others were waiting and they could all go home, and try and find Nana tomorrow. Maybe she would be at school, and have a perfectly legitimate and reasonable excuse for not being able to come and see them.

He was about halfway through the park and to the forest when one of the trailers caught his eye. It was kind of beat up, and the grass that grew in front looked like it needed to be cut in the low light. The thing that really caught his eye though was the door. It was flung open, and the screen door in front was hanging on by one hinge. Other then that, the curtains were drawn shut in the small windows, the lights were off and there wasn't any cars in the gravel covered driveway. It definitely didn't look like the most friendly place in the world.

And for some reason, he wanted to check it out. Shaking his head, he started towards the forest instead. He drew the line on his instincts at going through private property. What were the chances that Nana lived in a place like that anyway?

Reaching the woods, he noticed how much darker it suddenly became in the shade of the trees. Creepy as well. He wouldn't stay here long. Husky and Senri were probably worried sick, and he didn't really like this place to begin with.

* * *

Nana placed the phone down back into it's holder. She had a half hour before she had to meet the others about her dream. She should probably leave a little before though, it was a bit of a walk from her house to the park they wanted to meet at. Heading to her room, the brown haired girl decided it would be best to just get her shoes and leave. Sure she'd probably have to wait a little before the others showed up, but her dad would be home from work soon, and she didn't really want to run into him that much.

Pulling her shoes on, she heard the front door bang shut, the screen door swinging back and forth on it's rusted hook. Too late, he was home early for some reason. Sometimes the brunette wondered if he ever actually went to work half the time, but didn't even think of bringing that up with anybody.

The girl cringed at the sound of something smashing down the hallway. Oh no, he was in one of those moods again. Hearing muffled curses coming through her door, Nana hoped he would go into his room before she had to leave. As long as he didn't see her, it would be fine.

Another crash, and Nana really wished the window in her room was big enough to head though. She vaguely wondered what it was he'd broken this time, but didn't bother to put much thought into it. Whatever it was probably wasn't that important. They didn't keep important things out in the open anymore. Well, that might not be it, they didn't really have anything too important left anyway, after moving around a bit and little episodes like this.

The sound of footsteps came up the hall, and the brown haired girl hoped that they would just go past her room and into her parents so she could leave. After a few breathless minutes, she heard her parents bedroom door close, and exhaled, relieved. As soon as she did though, the sounds of an argument began to rise from her parent's room, effectively holding her in place again.

It would make sense to just leave while she had the chance, but the yelling kept her glued to her bed. Once it died down she would head out. She didn't want them hearing her moving around too much and come see what she was doing anyway. She still had twenty minutes until she had to be there, and she could make in in ten if she ran fast enough. Not to mention the others probably wouldn't mind too much if she took a little longer anyway.

When the yelling finally died down, the brunette walked over to her coat and slipped it on as quietly as she could, only to flinch slightly at the sound of her parent's door opening again. Listening closer though, it wasn't her father's angry footsteps crashing down the hallway, and she relaxed just slightly.

She heard her mother rummaging around in the kitchen for a moment before heading back towards her room. Her father probably wanted something to eat. Nana's head shot up when she heard her own door opening instead of the one's for her parent's room.

Her mother came in, her grey streaked brown hair tussled and looking tired. She had a tub of something in her hand, but Nana couldn't see what, it was blocked a bit by her legs, and a few cups. The older woman sat down on her bed, and motioned for her to come over. The girl looked her mother over in confusion, but decided to listen to her.

"Hey mom? Something wrong?" She asked, sitting down next to her. The worn out woman shook her head, and Nana could see what the bottle was now. It was the bleach they kept in the laundry room, which was inside the kitchen, although Nana couldn't think for the life of her why she had it with her in her room.

"No… No dear, I just… need you to do something with me," her mother said, glancing down at the bleach. Nana nodded, but looked over at the clock to see what time it was. She had about seven minutes before she was late, and she knew she would be, even if she left right now, she couldn't even run there that fast.

"Um, sure. It wont take long will it? I promised my friends I'd meet them at the park soon, it's kind of important," she said. Her mother understood things like that better then her father, and once again the woman shook her head, relieving the young brunette slightly.

"No, it won't take long at all…" she said, sounding rather sad. Slowly, the tired woman started unscrewing the lid to the bleach, causing Nana to raise her eyebrow slightly. What did they need bleach for? There wasn't even any laundry in here, Nana had done all of her's just the night before.

"Uh, mom, what's the bleach for?" the brunette asked as she watched the woman steadily poor it into one of the cups. She just sighed as she placed the cup into her daughter's hands, earning another confused stare.

"Sweetie, dear… I need you to drink this," her mother said softly. Nana just stared at her mother blinking for a few moments, as the words processed in her head. Finally she yelped, and pushed the cup away from her and back into the older woman's hands instead.

"No! Why would I do that! ?" she yelled, looking her mom up and down in shock. Bleach was poisonous! She had to of known that, right? Of course she did, then what in the world was she thinking? The woman just sighed as she put the cup back into her daughter's hands, who took it much more cautiously then before.

"Look sweetie, this is very important, you might not understand right now, but I need you to do this," her mother tried to convince her, but Nana just shook her head the entire time. She understood what would happen if she drank that, and she didn't want to… Why was she doing this?

"N-no," she said, trying to give the cup back to her mother, but the woman wouldn't take it. "Mom, what's _wrong _with you?" Nana nearly yelled, but it didn't seem to faze the breaking woman any.

"Nana, _please,_" her mother said, using the same tone of voice she usually did when fed up with something the young girl did, especially when she'd had a long day or something like that. The brunette just continued to shake her head though, utterly horrified at what was going tried to give the cup back to her mother again, and thankfully this time she took it.

Nana's eyes went wide and she squeezed her mouth shut as tight as she could when the woman tried to force the cup of toxic cleaner down her thought herself. Instinctively she started fighting back, pushing her mother away as hard as she could. Her mother only glared with worn out eyes as she attempted to keep from spilling any of the bleach. "Nana, listen to me," she demanded, but the brown haired girl just shook her head, not about to open her mouth, as tears started forming at the edges of her eyes.

Once again her mother attempted to force the 'drink' down her daughter's throat, and once again Nana pushed her away, using both her arms and kicking this time. Her mother hit the bottle of bleach, causing it to fall over and spill all over the brunette's bed and floor.

As fast as she could, Nana stood up and started backing away from her at least slightly unhinged mother. This was wrong, this was so wrong. The older woman turned her attention away from the leaking bottle back to her daughter, who watched her similarlu to a caged animal. She stood up off the bed, and Nana backed farther into the corner.

"I don't want to do this dear, but I need to," she said, as if that made any sense. Nana just continued to back away, keeping her mouth as closed as she could and looking around for any chance to get out of there. She had to get out of there.

For a third time her mother tried to push the cup at her mouth, and this time Nana pushed her back as far and as hard as she possibly could, managing to knock her down on the ground. Her mother never was that strong, really. Screaming, not caring or even thinking about bothering her father anymore, she ran past the woman and out the door, her mother reaching after her. Her back was burning, and she thought maybe she got some bleach spilled on it. She didn't know if bleach burned when it got on skin, but didn't really have the time or peace of mind to actually think about it.

Reaching her front door, she heard her mother starting to get up and follow her. Without thinking she slammed the screen door as hard as she possibly could, pretty sure one of the old hinges finally gave way, but didn't stop to look or make sure, instead heading as fast as she could away from the old trailer she called home.

She ended up in the forest, but that was all she could tell when she finally stopped running and collapsed on the grassy ground. She never came in here much, and hadn't been paying any attention to where she was going. Not that her current position was really on her mind at the moment, instead balling her eyes out at what had just happened. It didn't make any sense. Why did that happen?

The burning in her back started to subside, not that the girl took any notice, instead falling to sleep on the forest floor in utter exhaustion. Any thoughts she had before this were incoherent and confused, only consisting of dozens of unanswered questions as to why.

* * *

It's finally happened! After thirty chapters, and probably not the way many of you thought. This chapter was surprisingly easy to write once I sat down and did it. Although I have to say, this story does have a bit of unfortunate implications towards mothers. Don't worry people! I love my mother!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review.


	31. Chapter 31

Well hello everyone. This chapter sure is early, isn't it? Why? Well, I actually started writing this the same day that I finished that last one, I was just on a roll and didn't feel like stopping. Even if I did start at 2:30 in the morning. Ah well, it's a give and take relationship.

Chapter 31

Cooro walked through the quickly darkening woods, already starting to consider turning back. He'd been walking for maybe ten minutes now, and it was almost pitch dark, Husky would be furious, Senri worried and he didn't even know if he could find his way out, let alone all the way back to the park.

Sighing under his breath at the talking to he was sure to receive from both Husky and Mother Superior, he started to turn back in the direction he was pretty sure led back to the trailer park, when something light caught his eye in the darkness. Squinting, he couldn't quite make out what it was. His curious nature and gut instinct wouldn't let him simply leave whatever it was alone though, and he walked forward through the brush in order to get a better look at whatever it was sprawled out on the ground.

As he came closer he quickly became aware that it was human, and felt his heart nearly stop when the recognition set in. Oh no, oh no, oh no… Cooro stood stuck to his spot, staring at the unconscious form of the girl he'd been worried about and looking for, for almost two hours.

Shaking his head, he managed to regain control of his shocked body to run forward. "Nana!" the black haired boy yelled as he leaned down next to her, almost afraid to touch her in case… Shaking his head again, he tried to convince himself that it wasn't, couldn't, be anything like that, and looked her over more intently.

She was still breathing, and she didn't seem to have any injuries anywhere. Cooro breathed a sigh of relief. She was alive, he didn't have to worry about that. Refocusing his attention to what could of possibly left her unconscious in the woods, and why she hadn't come to meet them in the first place, the eleven year old gently started trying to shake her away, not having any idea what she would be like when she woke up. He prayed he wouldn't have to go through what he had to with Husky for a second time, but something told him that those prayers wouldn't be answered.

"Nana, hey Nana, wake up. It's me, Cooro. Can you hear me? Nana?" the black haired boy asked softly, and slowly Nana started to open her eyes, confusion clearly reflected in them.

"Cooro?" she mumbled, managing to push herself up into a sitting position, although Cooro made sure to help her, not knowing whether or not she actually needed it. Luckily right now she seemed more confused and tired then anything else. The brunette looked around at the dark woodland surrounding, before finally landing her sight on Cooro. She seemed to be thinking something over, and the black haired boy was just about to ask her what happened when her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates.

"Ahh! Nana, what's wrong?" he asked franticly. She was holding her head now, with her eyes squeezed shut tight. It was just like what happened to Husky when they found him that night, although his hadn't happened quite as fast. What did they do to calm Husky down? What did they do? Cooro was panicking and couldn't remember.

"C-calm down Nana! It's okay. It's okay, see? Everything's okay, you're safe, It's okay," the older boy said, and thankfully Nana started opening her eyes again slowly to look at him, placing her trembling hands back down to her sides. Cooro sighed and tried to smile reassuringly, but he wasn't too sure how convincing he was. His acting was slipping more and more as the days went by.

"C-Cooro," the brunette started shakily, "what are you… doing here?" she asked, looking him up and down like she still couldn't believe he was actually there. Truth be told Cooro couldn't believe that he was there, or more specifically that here was where he needed to be.

"Looking for you, although how I actually managed to find you in anybody's guess," he said, scanning her over one more time to make sure she really was okay. It was hard to see in the dark. He could see her nod though as she thought over the situation.

"Sorry… that I didn't show up… I wish I did," the brunette mumbled, and Cooro almost immediately shook his head. He was sure whatever had happened to make her end up terrified in a place like this was not a pleasant thing. Before he was able to say that though, she turned back towards him. "Where are the others?" she asked, and Cooro was just glad she was getting her mind off of whatever happened.

"Probably still waiting back at the park, or went home. We were all out looking for you, and I should have headed back about an hour ago at least, but couldn't for some reason, I guess it's a good thing I didn't," the black haired boy explained, and Nana nodded, before attempting to stand up. Cooro immediately stood up to help her, but she didn't seem too off, just a bit wobbly.

"We should go see if they're there, so they can stop worrying," Nana said, and Cooro nodded, trying to remember which way it was towards the forest's exit.

"Yeah, I think out's this way," he said, and the two started walking though the dark forest, helping each other find there way, but not doing much in the way of talking. It was obvious how shaken Nana still was, and Cooro didn't want to upset her any by saying or asking something he shouldn't.

Thankfully, it didn't take as long as he thought it would to reach the edge of the trailer park, but Nana practically froze to her spot once they did. Turning back towards her, Cooro really hoped she wouldn't run back into the forest or something like that.

"Nana? You okay?" he asked softly, and the brunette nodded, although she had her eyes closed and was practically hugging herself. "You know, we don't have to go straight through the trailer park, we can go any way you feel comfortable," Cooro said, and Nana nodded before opening her eyes and starting towards the left.

Absently, Cooro glanced back towards the trailer that had caught his attention on the way into the woods. It was difficult to see in the dark, but he was pretty sure the door was still wide open, the screen still hanging pathetically on it's one hinge, and no car or other sighs of life about. Shaking his head, he turned away from the abandoned wreak of a home and started back after Nana, wondering for the first time how her home life really was, and why he had never noticed before.

Husky sat on the cold sidewalk, running his hand through his hair and worried out of his skull. What the hell was Cooro doing? It was dark. It was cold. Nana was already missing and Husky could _not_ deal with this right now!

"Urrrrggg!" he groaned, leaning his head back against the cold metal fence. Senri just stared down at him sadly, and the silver boy had to resist the urge to snap at him. He should be thankful that the teen had stayed with him all this time. Pulling out his cell phone he glanced at the clock. 7:38. He'd have to get home soon, but he wouldn't be able to rest at all if Cooro didn't come back by then. Hell, it was already starting to get hard for the boy to breath evenly, the anxiety of the situation gripping at his heart. He doubted he would even make it home.

"Husky! Senri!" the ten year old nearly jumped out of his skin, managing to bang his head hard against the metal poles of the park fence due to the shock.

"Ow! Damn it!" he yelled, turning towards the very familiar voice that had called his and the teen's name, ready to scream a thousand different things at the black haired boy for disappearing like he had and making them worry and nearly giving him another anxiety attack when he saw who was next to him and all that died in his throat, instead being replaced with two other thoughts.

"What the hell happened? Is everything okay? Did something happen?" he nearly yelled, as he stood up next to the silent but also shocked teen, and tried to convince himself that he wouldn't of asked Cooro those same questions if he had been alone, and would of yelled at him like he wanted to.

"Um, I found Nana?" Cooro said weakly, and Husky nearly slapped himself in the head.

"I know that! I can see her! I mean what took you so long? Who'd you find her? Did something happen?" he asked, repeating the last question for the third time. Senri nodded, although he looked extremely relieved at the return of the two other children. Cooro glanced over at Nana, not quite sure how to answer those questions. He didn't know why he'd looked so long, or how he managed to find her besides dumb luck, and as for what happened, Nana still hadn't told him. They'd barely spoke the entire way there, except for Nana to tell him which way they were suppose to go. Finally, he decided to just be truthful. He'd already decided to himself that they all needed to be more anyway.

"I don't know," he said simply, and Husky's eyebrow almost went a mile high.

"You don't know? How can you not know? Look, just tell me if you're both okay, okay?" the silver boy demanded, and Cooro nodded. He could do that, for himself, at least.

"I'm fine, as for Nana, um…" the black haired boy trailed off as he looked over at the girl who hadn't said a word since they managed to meet back up where the other half of their little group. Slowly she started nodding her head slightly.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay. I just can't really… well…" the brunette started trailing off a bit, starting down at the cracked sidewalk, when Husky sighed slightly under his breath. They should of found a way to protect her better, but they didn't even know what they were suppose to be protecting her from.

"Let me guess, you can't go home?" the silver boy asked, sincerely hoping that there was someway that he was wrong. Any hope of that was crushed as Nana nodded her head just slightly. They should of seen this coming, but Nana had never said anything was wrong or bad about her home life, although Husky had to dullfully remind himself that he never said anything had been wrong with his either.

"J-just for tonight! I promise," she said, although that didn't seem to be the problem on anyone's mind.

"You think we're worried about something like that?" Husky asked, an incredulous tone emanating from his voice, and Cooro nodded in agreement.

"You can stay away as long as you need to, Husky did. We just want to make sure you're really alright," the black haired boy said, and Senri nodded as he looked down at them all. Nana nodded meekly, which really didn't convince anyone too much, but it was getting too late to stay out much longer and it probably wasn't the best idea to try and start an argument when Nana was in this condition.

"Look, it's late, and cold, and bluntly it's just been a really bad day. You're gonna be staying at the church, right?" Husky asked and Nana nodded once again. "Okay, one more thing before you go," he said, and Cooro had to admit he was pretty surprised with how in control Husky was. Besides Nana, he had the most problems on his plate at the moment, but he certainly wasn't acting like it. "Do you… have one now?" the silver boy asked, and they all immediately knew what he was talking about.

"I… I don't know. I haven't really… looked? I guess I'll check, or something, when we get to Cooro's, and tell you tomorrow?" Nana said hesitantly. She didn't want to be half bat, and if she was, why did her's and Husky's have to come after such horrible things! Cooro just had a bad dream… They were almost killed… It wasn't fair…

"Well, we should probably get going now, right Nana?" Cooro asked, pulling the girl out of her thoughts, and she nodded. Cooro made an attempt to smile at her before turning back towards Husky and Senri. "Well, see you tomorrow," the black haired boy said, and Husky nodded, his mind already looking like it was elsewhere.

"Yeah, see ya," he mumbled, started to head off in the direction of his house. Senri smiled down at the two kindly before turning around and heading back into the park, a small pang of guilt sounding in both of them as they watched the teen walk away into the cold night. Finally Cooro turned back towards the brunette once Senri was out of sight.

"Well, I guess we should start off too," he said, and Nana obediently started following him in the direction of the church. Mother Superior would be angry and confused at first, but hopefully she would let it pass without too many questions, like she had with Husky. She might not though, because of what happened with Husky. It was kind of suspicious that all his friends were starting to have severe family problems.

After a few minutes of silently walking through the dark streets, the two children made there way to the backdoor of the small church. The black haired boy opened the door slowly, preparing for the reprimanding he was sure to get from the old woman, but didn't hear anybody once he finally stepped inside, Nana following close behind him.

"Mother Superior?" he called out, looking around the room in confusion. Finally his eyes landed on a note sitting on the counter. Picking it up, he read it aloud so that Nana could hear as well. "Dear Cooro, called out to reside over Mrs. Rustenburg in her time of passing, will be there until morning. Dinner's in the fridge," smiling slightly, he turned towards the brunette. "Huh, guess we got a little bit of luck today, now we don't have to explain anything until morning," he said, and Nana nodded.

Walking over to the fridge, he pulled out the leftover casserole he saw rapped up. "You hungry?" He asked, but Nana just shook her head. Cooro frowned slightly. He knew he shouldn't expect the girl to be instantly normal and acting if everything was fine, because it wasn't, but he didn't want her not eating. "Thirsty?" he asked, and she shook her head again.

"N-no. I think I'm just gonna go upstairs and… see if I'm a vampire now or something," she mumbled, and Cooro nodded slowly.

"Alright, do you want me to come with you?" he asked, ready to put everything away if she said yes. She didn't though, instead shaking her head softly as she headed towards the stairwell.

"No, I'll be fine. I'll call you if I need anything," she said, and Cooro nodded, watching her as she walked away. Why did everything have to be so terrible all the time? He didn't even know what had happened to her, and he desperately wanted to, but he couldn't ask. It might set something off, like whenever Husky had to talk about what happened to him, and he didn't want that to happen. She would tell them all when she was ready, and he could wait until then.

Reaching the upstairs' bathroom, Nana started looking herself over in the mirror, not entirely sure just what she was looking for. One of those strange tattoos, like the others had that mark their powers. She started searching over her body, freezing up as she caught sight of a black marking on her back, blocked slightly by her shirt in the mirror.

Lifting up the back of her shirt and her hair, she tried to get a better look at whatever it was in the mirror. Staring, she tried to calm herself down. It really did look like a tattoo… One of stylized batwings, right on the upper part of her back.

A sinking feeling started to develop in her stomach as she let her shirt and hair fall back into place, covering the black markings from her sight. She… she really wasn't human anymore… A shiver ran up her spine as the brown haired girl sank down onto the bathroom floor. She wasn't human. She wasn't human.

The others had warned her about this, but it still gripped her in cold shock. She was some weird bat creature and her only real friends were all equally strange beings. It wasn't fair, it just wasn't fair. Shaking her head, she tried to calm herself down, to no avail.

She wasn't human, and she had no idea how the others managed to deal with it so easily. They just… they just seemed to accept it after a while, but for the life of her Nana didn't think she would ever be able to. They didn't even know what there… species name was, if it even had one. They just called it weird animal powers, or the animal power things, or mermaids and vampires and bearmans!

Not moving from the bathroom floor, Nana started to close her eyes. Cooro would probably get worried when he didn't find her in his room, but she didn't really care too much at the moment. She just wanted to be normal, why was all of this happening to them. It wasn't fair.

Another shiver ran up her spine, and she couldn't tell if it was from the cold tile she was sitting on or the fear. The only thing he really knew at the moment was that she wasn't human, and that life just wasn't fair.

* * *

5 O'clock in the morning, but I finished two chapters in one day. Over 6,000 words and 11 pages in one day O_O Very tired now… Like I said, waited a few days to post this, so that you all have it nice and evened out for your reading pleasure, but still much, much sooner then it normally would. A treat for failing with two promised bonus chapters? Yeah, let's go with that.

Well, I hope you liked it, and please review.


	32. Bonus Chapter Family Times

Well, I said I'd write a bonus chapter when I got one hundred review (among other times _) and I'm not going to be lazy this time and not do it. School's over, I have time now.

So yes, this is just my way of saying thank you for reading this story and getting to such a big milestone in my eyes. I only have one other story which broke 100, so yeah, this is still really cool for me (incidentally, that only happened like, a week ago)  
Okay, enough of my blabbering, and on with the bonus chapter.

Bonus Chapter - Family Times

Myrrha sat in the back of his mother's car, glaring out the window. It was one of those few days a year when he was to be carted off to his father's house for the next few days, in order to help 'fill the gap in his life that was left there' and 'better connect him with the other half of his family.' Whatever. He may only be eight, but he could see through the sugar coated words his therapist threw at him. Spending an awkward thanksgiving with a man he barely knew, his bratty son and scary wife was not going to make him more well adjusted in any way, shape or form.

"Try to behave while you're there," his mother said without looking back, her calm voice. Myrrha just crossed his arms and glared at the passing trees harder. He knew that she had nothing to do with him having to go there, if it was up to her he wouldn't, but that didn't make the whole thing any more bearable.

"He's the one who always starts it," the silver haired boy mumbled, vaguely referring to the last time he'd had to stay an extended amount of time at his father's house, and ended up breaking his half-brother's nose. His therapist, how he hated that woman, had been more mad at him then his mother, who just nodded slightly now.

"I know, but this is only for two days. It wont be as bad," she said, and Myrrha had to reluctantly agree. Two days was much better then the week he had to go through last time, which had ended in the previously mentioned fight. He could do two days, and hopefully not give his therapist anything to yak on him about when he came back. Speaking of that therapist, actually…

"Mom, I don't want to go to therapy anymore. It's not doing anything, that lady doesn't know what she's talking about," he said as they started pulling into a town. He guessed it seemed like an okay place, it looked pretty much like any suburban area, not that he really cared. He wasn't allowed to go anyplace alone while he was here anyway, and he didn't want to spend any more time then needed with his 'family.'

"We'll talk about it Monday, we're here," the older woman said as they pulled into a long driveway. Okay, he'd admit it, his dad was kind of rich. It wasn't like he cared or anything. To Myrrha, it really didn't matter. Sure, it made his home life a whole lot more secure, to the point where his mom really didn't need to work if she didn't want to, but he just didn't care. His mom didn't spoil him, so he wasn't like the other rich kids he knew. He wasn't really like any of the other kids. Maybe that was why they decided he needed therapy. Whatever, he didn't want to be like them.

"Be good…" his mother said as he stepped out of the care, a grey duffle bag over his shoulder. He nodded as he turned back towards her.

"I will, bye," he said, shutting the car door and reluctantly starting towards the front porch. It was a pretty big house, but that only \seemed to make it even less welcoming. Reaching the door, he looked back towards the driveway. His mother was still there, and he wished he could just go back to her car and go home. He didn't like it here at all.

About to knock on the door, he stopped, and put his hand back down. Shifting the duffle bag on his shoulder, he turned around and started walking towards the car. He could see the window being rolled down. They've gone through this before.

"Myrrha," she said calmly, before he got the chance to say anything. She was always calm, that was something the silver boy liked about his mother. She wasn't all emotional like other girls.

"Mom! I don't want to go! They all hate me," he said, and as far as he was concerned it was the complete truth. Keane made fun of him, beat him up and hated him, Dylana was scary, glared at him constantly and hated him, and his dad didn't care about him and hated him. His mother just sighed and shook her head.

"They don't hate you," she said, but Myrrha just crossed his arms and pouted. He knew it was childish and wouldn't work, but it was all he could do besides try and climb back in the car and refuse to get out, and he knew that wouldn't work either. He'd tried it before, his mom knew to lock the doors now.

"It's only two days," the young woman reminded him, and Myrrha uncrossed his arms, but he was still pouting and not about to go towards that house.

"Do I have to?" he mumbled, glancing back at the imposing house filled with people he'd feel perfectly fine about never seeing again. His mother just nodded. "Why?" he'd also asked this before, and he knew the answer as well, but that didn't stop him from doing it again, hoping maybe it had changed.

"Because the court says that you have to, now go," she said, and the silver boy kicked the ground lightly before turning back around towards the house. That was usually the end of their argument, since he'd yet to find something that overruled the judicial system.

Reaching the door for a second time, it was only once he'd knocked that his mother started to pull away. Well, there went all chances of sneaking into the backseat. He'd never actually tried that. He'd need to, it might actually work.

"Comin!" called a cheery sounding voice from inside the house, and Myrrha grimaced to himself. Well, he hadn't expected his _Father_ to answer the door, and he guessed it was better then Dylana. Slightly.

"Oh, it's you…" Keane said dryly as he looked the younger boy over. "Well, let's get this over with, Husky," he grumbled as he stepped out of the way to let Myrrha inside. He just rolled his eyes as he walked inside, choosing to ignore the insulting nickname Keane had called him, he was all too used to it by now.

"Don't act surprised, you know I was coming," he said as he came into the house, not wasting anytime to look around. "Same room as normal?" He asked, and the red head just nodded, so Myrrha made his way to the spare room that he'd stay in during these little get-togethers.

Once he was inside he shut the door behind him, dropped the duffle bag to the floor and flopped onto the bed seated against the wall. Maybe he could just stay in here for the next two days, it wasn't like they could do much to make him come out, anyway. Of course, not long after he'd thought that the sound of someone knocking on the door caused him to push himself up on the bed, and glare at the brown barrier.

"Yes?" he called, hoping maybe it was just Keane and he could tell him to go away. He probably would too.

"Dad want you downstairs," it was Keane, and he sounded just as annoyed as Husky felt about this whole situation. The silver haired boy rolled his eyes, but didn't immediately tell Keane to go away. Something about what he said had interested him.

"He's here?" he asked, and could hear the red head move to lean against the door now.

"No, but he said he didn't want you spending the entire weekend locked up in that room," Keane said, and Myrrha rolled his eyes. Like he was going to leave his room and spend time with Keane and Dylana if he wasn't even there to actually enforce it in person. He was hardly ever around when Myrrha was there, so it really seemed to defeat the entire purpose of him even being there. Even if he was related to Keane too, it wasn't like they actually got along, so it wasn't like he was having any fun visiting him.

"If he's not even here then why should I?" he called to the older boy, hoping maybe he wasn't in the mood to beat on him and actually leave of his own free will. Or of course, he could want revenge for the broken nose, it was a two way thing.

"That's just what he said, I could care less if you stay in there," the red head said, and Myrrha just rolled his eyes. Looking at the door, he got a small idea. He'd probably get in trouble for it later, and his mom did say to be good, but it was just too perfect to pass up, Keane would get over it. Standing up, he walked over to the door and opened it, Keane flailing to the ground.

"I think I will," Myrrha said, unable to hide the slightly smug tone to his voice as he stared down at the boy on the floor. Before he could stand up, Myrrha closed the door, pushing him out of the room, and locked it.

Walking back towards the bed, he could hear Keane frantically standing back up out in the hallway, the shock probably wearing off by now. Yeah, he was going to get in trouble, and he hadn't even been here ten minutes, great. The sound of the ginger trying to open the door reached him, before he finally seemed to just give up in frustration.

"Have fun locked in a room all alone! Not that you aren't used to it, _Husky!_" Keane yelled, before stomping away. Husky glared at the door, almost able to imagine the red head on the other side, his stupid hair pulled up in a ponytail like some sort of girl.

"That's not my name!" he yelled out, although he wasn't even sure if the red head was still there to hear him. He didn't care. Usually being called Husky didn't bother him too much, but Keane was being extra annoying today… even if he had kind of started that last thing. Whatever, he still deserved it.

Laying back down on the bed, he glared at the ceiling. Why did he have to come here? He'd much rather be back home. Why did holidays even have to exist? Who cares if a bunch of people in weird black hats with buckles had some food like, two hundred years ago? And if it was about being thankful with what you have, then being here was not helping him concentrate on that at all.

He had no idea how much later it was, there wasn't a clock in the room, and his cell phone was in his bag, when he heard Keane coming back up the stairs and banging on his door. Rather loudly.

"Come down for dinner!" he yelled still, rather obviously, sounding upset about earlier. He was probably just mad that Myrrha would be there for the next two days. The silver boy considered just staying in his room and not coming out at all, but he was already kind of hungry.

Sighing to himself, he lazily got off the bed and headed out of the room. Ah well, he'd just go back inside after he was done eating, if his dad wasn't there. Actually, he probably could even if he was. Myrrha couldn't remember a time they had spent longer then an hour together, and all of those had seemed awkward and rushed. It wasn't like it mattered to the silver boy though. He had his mother, and that was all he needed, not a bunch of people who didn't even like him being shoved into his life at regular intervals.

When he reached the dinning room he was a little surprised to see that his father actually was there. Well, tomorrow was thanksgiving, and he did at least attempt to see him at least once when Myrrha had to come. Even if some of those times didn't last any longer then a half hour.

Sitting down, he started eating without speaking or making eye contact with anyone. No one else was talking either, but that was usually how it was like. Awkward, and why wouldn't it be? He wasn't wanted here.

The food was way too spicy for him to actually enjoy, but that was something he expected as well. Dylana always put too many spices in his food, even when he told her he didn't like them. She actually put more in after that, just one of many things that made Myrrha know he wasn't welcomed by that woman at all.

"How was the trip?" his father asked him, trying at least to strike up a conversation and kill the tension in the air, which was as thick as glue at this point. He probably knew that no one else at the table was going to start one.

"Fine," the silver boy mumbled, forcing the food down his throat. The sooner he was finished the sooner he could leave. Maybe he could sleep the next two days away. That might make them go faster. His father didn't attempt to ask him anything else during the rest of the meal, and afterwards everyone quickly went their separate ways. Myrrha couldn't tell if Keane had told on him for making him fall, but if he did, which he was sure he had if past experience were any indication of his behavior, they apparently hadn't cared enough to actually punish him.

Myrrha quickly went back to his room, before Keane could try and confront him or anything, with a bottle of water. Both because his mouth still burned from dinner and because he'd have to take his anxiety pills later, and didn't want to have to leave the room again if he didn't have to. They were so stupid, but he guessed they helped when he had to do things like this, but he wasn't about to let Keane or anyone else know about it in a billion years. The redhead already had enough insult fuel with him going to a therapist, he wasn't about to tell him he was on meds too.

He'd take them later though, right now he just wanted to do nothing, which was easy, since there wasn't anything to do to begin with. He'd put off packing until the lat minute, like always, and he'd forgotten to bring anything to occupy himself with. Ah well, he'd live.

A few hours later he was already starting to get antsy. He'd taken his pills maybe ten minutes ago, but he wasn't sure if they were working yet. Either way, he couldn't sleep, and was frankly very tired of staring at the white ceiling.

Finally he groaned lightly to himself and climbed out of bed. Looking at his cell phone, it was 11:42, everyone was probably asleep by now. It wouldn't do any harm if he just walked around the house a bit. As long as he didn't wake anyone up, how could they even care? It wasn't like he was going to tell them in the morning.

It was a big house, but he'd been over enough times to know where he was to not get lost. Not enough times to avoid ramming into things in the dark though. Cursing his now throbbing foot, he quickly hobbled away from that stupid chair that had seemed to appear out of thin air.

"Stupid… uhg," he grumbled, walking over to the window, much more careful to watch where he was going. It was a full moon out, so he could kind of see the yard. It was big, a few bushes around the perimeter, one of those couch swing things…

Myrrha frowned slightly to himself as he tried to get a better look at said swing. It was moving… but it didn't look very windy out. His heart nearly stopped when he saw that there was someone _on_ it, and almost screamed so someone would come and get the scary homeless person off the property, but managed to stop himself when recognition started to set in the low light. Was that… Keane?

Pressing his head against the glass t try and get a better look, he saw that it was in fact his half brother, swinging out in the backyard in the middle of the night. Weirdo. Shaking his head, Myrrha considered going outside and seeing what was up. It wasn't really safe, if someone saw him, and they were a creepy serial killer, he'd be easy picking.

Of course, that chances of that happening were slim to none. Besides, he'd probably get mad at him for coming outside anyway. Turning from the window, he went to sit on the couch in the living room and wait for Keane to come in instead, and ask his what was up. After maybe ten minutes, he'd fallen asleep.

It was early the next morning when he felt something nudging him awake, although he really wished it would just leave him alone instead.

"Husky, wake up," Keane said, and groggily Myrrha pushed himself into a sitting position before halfheartedly glaring at the red head in front of him. "Why are you sleeping on the couch? Mom'll be up soon, go to your room if you don't want her to find you," He said, but Myrrha decided to ignore him for the moment.

"Why were you outside last night?" he asked, figuring that since he was on the couch he hadn't dreamed it. Judging from Keane's 'oh no' look, quickly masked by anger, he'd say it was definitely not a dream.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, trying to deny it, but the silver boy wasn't awake enough to deal with any of that, just going for the straight facts of what had happened.

"I saw you on the swing last night, waited on the couch for you to come in and ask what was up, but fell asleep, so there's the answer to your question, now tell me mine. Why were you out on a swing at midnight?" he asked again, and this time Keane avoided eye contact, not really having anymore room to deny it.

"It's none of your business," he said, and Myrrha decided to just not fight him on this. Standing up, he stretched himself and yawned before heading over to the stairs, leaving Keane standing confused in the center of the room.

"Fine by me, just don't get yourself killed by wandering maniacs during your romantic moonlit evenings alone," Keane just stared at his retreating form before finally starting to follow him, only to have the spare room door closed and locked in his face. Again.

After sleeping for a few more hours, Myrrha woke up at a slightly more normal time, wondering vaguely why Keane had been up earlier at all. Whatever, like Keane had said, it wasn't any of his business.

Begrudgingly, he noted that today was thanksgiving, the whole reason for his being here. Yippidy-do-da. At least he only had to get through today and he could leave tomorrow afternoon. Then he wouldn't have to come back for at least another three weeks to a month, and he got to spend Christmas with his mom this year, thankfully. Last Christmas had not ended too well, to say the least. Long story short his therapist tried to diagnose him with anger issues. He didn't have anger issues, Keane just annoyed the hell out of him.

Quickly changing into a new outfit, he headed downstairs to grab something for breakfast before Dylana could make him pepper flavored cereal or something like that. Grabbing a banana, he was glad that he hadn't ran into anyone, but his dad was probably at work, and he didn't know where Dylana or Keane was, but he didn't care either.

The rest of the day was pretty much a bore, although he did start to hear someone moving around and the occasional bang coming from the kitchen. Dylana must actually feel like making something for thanksgiving, that or she hired someone to do it. He didn't feel like checking in case it was actually her.

In any case, around five o'clock he heard Keane once again being sent up to tell him that food was ready. He hadn't left his room to get lunch or anything, so he was actually pretty hungry. He would of if his dad had been home instead, but that woman was intimidating. He'd never say that to anyone's face, of course, but it was true.

His dad wasn't there when he went downstairs, so it was twice as awkward as the night before, since they all at least had a slight common ground with him. Without, Dylana didn't even try to hide the contempt in her face when Myrrha was around. It could go either way with Keane, although he mostly picked on him when there wasn't any adults present, not that the silver boy really thought that Dylana would care. She'd probably join in, or something.

The food was pretty good, at least. Dylana hadn't tried to burn his tongue off too bad. He still ate fast though, so that he could go hide off in his room again. Before he was able to make it though, Keane stopped him.

"Hey Husky," the red head called, and Myrrha reluctantly turned around to face him. He wanted to just ignore him, but that would probably cause a fight even faster then answering him.

"Yeah?" he asked, waiting for the red head to get to the point of whatever it is he wanted. He wanted to maybe be able to get though this entire visit without getting into a fight. He only had the rest of today and half of tomorrow to worry about, and he could stay in his room until his mom came to pick him up tomorrow. That is, if Keane would hurry up and let him get there.

"You didn't tell anyone I was outside?" he asked, and Myrrha raised an eyebrow questioningly. That's what he wanted to know? Hell, he was still confused as to why he hadn't gotten in trouble for opening the door and letting the ginger fall.

"No. Who would I tell? Dylana hates me and dad isn't even home," he said, before looking the redhead over again. "You didn't tell about me opening the door on you?" he asked, and Keane scoffed.

"Oh, I did, but Dad didn't care. You've always been his favorite," he said, the spite in his voice pretty clear. All Myrrha could do was turn his head to the side in confusion. Favorite? That was news to him. Why would he be the favorite, he didn't even live with them.

"That's stupid. I never even see him, how could he possibly even care about me, let alone more then you? He was probably on the phone or something and you didn't notice," he said, but Keane just rolled his eyes. If they stayed in the same room much longer, it was inevitably going to turn into a fight. Shaking his head, Myrrha turned around back towards the spare room.

"Whatever. I'm leaving, you'll know where I'll be if there's a fire or something," he said, before shutting the door so that Keane couldn't try to say anything else and keep him around. He didn't care if it was rude, it was a whole lot less rude then punching him in the face, that was for sure.

Well, know he just had to wait out the rest of his time alone, which, although he would never admit it to the redheaded punk, he was used to. He really didn't fit in with any of the kids his age. They were all too childish, or rough or spoiled or girls.

Maybe he would have been friends with Keane, if they didn't hate each other.

Well, it wasn't like it mattered, like he said before, he was used to it. When the sky started to get black, he was able to fall asleep, and when he woke up in the morning he stayed in his room until two o'clock when his mom finally came to pick him up. He was starving, but he'd get something to eat when he got home.

"So, how was it?" his mother asked as he stepped into the car, and he just shrugged lightly. He guessed it was better then some other times, no one had gotten hurt, at the very least.

"Okay, awkward like always, but Keane and I didn't fight as much," he said, and the silver haired woman nodded. As they started to pull out of the neighborhood, Myrrha sighed to himself, staring out the window, his eyes glazed over in boredom. "I don't have to go back for a while now, right?" He asked, and his mother nodded yet again.

"Not for another three weeks, and you get to spend Christmas at home," she reminded him, and he nodded. At home, that would be nice.

His physiatrist always told him that 'his father's house was him home just as much as his mother's' but that wasn't true in the least. He actually felt comfortable at his home, and didn't have to spend the day locked in a room so that he wouldn't have to run into people who hated him.

No, he didn't think his father's house would ever be anything other then that to him, and definitely not a home. To tell the truth though, he really didn't care. He already had a home, and it was all he needed.

* * *

Woooo. That was one long bonus chapter, I will say. Longer then any of the real chapters. I kinda started having fun with eight year old Husky, and didn't know where to stop. I hope you all liked it though, just a peak into the boy's life before the story happened, and how his situation has changed.

I might do one for each of the other characters too. Maybe every ten chapters? Or five if I get impatience enough. Of course, I'd have to get to Senri's little background before I actually write his chapter. I have it all planned out, I just need to get it in the story.  
Also, if you're in my story, you will have a messed up home life/psyche. That's just how I work. Hence there is a reason behind everything the characters do, even Keane going outside in the middle of the night.

Well, I hope you liked this super long bonus surprise, and please review.


	33. Chapter 32

Hello everybody. Finally have time for a new chapter.

Before I start though, I have to say, hurray, I've gotten myself a beta reader for this story, Starnight888, who's already edited the first two chapters of this story. I feel a little bad, since Japaneserockergirl offered to beta a long time ago, but I could never figure out how to get it to work and send it to her to actually do it. I hope you don't feel like I was purposefully ignoring your offer.

Anyway, hopefully this will help with any of the spelling and grammar problems I miss, and make the story even more enjoyable for all of you.

Chapter 32

Nana wasn't sure how long she sat on the bathroom floor before Cooro was knocking at the door, finally breaking her out of the trance she seemed to be in.

"Nana? Are you okay in there?" he called in, a worried tone very emanate in his voice. The brunette just nodded as she tried to pull herself together enough to actually speak, the whole question of how Cooro had known she was in there in the first place escaping her.

"I… I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute," she called out, hoping the older boy would believe her and leave her be for just a little longer, even if she didn't sound very convincing herself. She could just barely hear Cooro sigh from outside the door before he started to speak again.

"Okay, I'll be in my room if you need me," the black haired boy said, walking away slowly from the closed off room. Nana just nodded, even though she knew he couldn't actually see her. Now she just had to pull herself together enough to go out there and not burst out crying. At least Cooro left her alone so that she could try, but he always listened to what others need him to do so she shouldn't have been so worried.

After a few minutes Nana finally managed to push herself up onto shaky legs. She had to go out before Cooro started to worry again. He was probably wondering what happened, and she needed to tell him about… about not being human anymore. Taking a deep breath, she slowly managed to walk over to the door and open it.

When she made her way over to Cooro's room, she found him on his bed, staring out the window sullenly. That didn't last long though as his head almost instantly swung towards her, and he started smiling again.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked, and Nana just shrugged as she went over and sat down on the desk chair. "Do you want to talk about it?" he tried, sounding a bit hesitant to ask even that. Nana shook her head though, and he wasn't about to try and force her to say anything about what happened that she didn't want to.

"Cooro?" she asked quietly, managing to grab his attention quite quickly. Sighing, she tried to prepare herself to just tell him. He was just like her now anyway, it didn't matter. They pretty much already knew it was going to happen, but it was just so hard to say it and make it concrete. "I… have a marking too…" she mumbled, and Cooro just nodded, like he expected it. Like she knew he would expect.

"It's okay. We can go talk to Husky and Senri about it tomorrow after school, if you're up for it. You don't have to go to school, by the way," the black haired boy said, and Nana just nodded again, not feeling too up to talking.

"I should go call Husky, and tell him that we're definitely going to meet up tomorrow. If you want, that is," Cooro suggested, and Nana nodded once again.

"Yeah… that's a good idea," she said quietly, so Cooro stood up and went downstairs to call the silver boy. Maybe while he was down there he could get something for Nana. A drink or snack or something. She might like that. He had to call Husky first though, and get everything straightened out.

Reaching the phone, he pushed in the needed numbers, hoping that Husky would answer. Not just for Nana, but he needed to talk to him too. It wasn't fair. Why did Nana and Husky have to go through so much pain to get their powers, and he basically got off with no real lasting problems. He didn't deserve that at all. He just needed to ask someone why, and who knows? Husky's really smart, he might actually have an answer.

Husky slowly closed the front door behind him, sighing in relief that no one was in the living room to see him come in so late. Then again though, who did he have to worry about? Keane wasn't really all that stable yet, and his dad still had work to do. Just because your wife dies doesn't mean that the world gets put on hold, after all.

Walking over to the couch, he sat down in a heap. He knew it'd probably be better to go to his room, but he just didn't feel like walking anymore his mind was so tired. Things just couldn't go right for them.

Something happened to Nana. He still didn't know what, and it was driving him insane. Drawing his legs up against his chest, he tried to go over the situation in his head as he stared at nothing. Nana was probably like them now, if what happened to him was any indication. Of course, if that was true then something terrible happened to Nana. Why couldn't they protect her?

"Oh good, you're um… here." Husky slowly lifted his head up to find his father standing in the doorway, looking down at him.

"Hey dad, something wrong?" the silver boy asked, and his father shook his head before looking around the room, as if he wasn't sure what he was doing. It didn't surprise Husky all that much though, his dad never really had known how to deal with him or Keane, if he thought about it. He didn't have anyone else to stuff them onto now either, so he really was kind of lost.

"No, nothing's wrong Myrrha. I mean, Dylana's funeral is tomorrow, do you have something nice to wear?" he asked, and Husky just stared at him for a moment as the information sunk in.

"Wait, it's tomorrow? Why didn't you tell us?" he asked. He had no idea it was tomorrow. He knew it had to be soon, but he assumed he'd get a bigger notice then the night before. His dad just looked a bit confused before finally answering his question.

"I thought I did. Well, do you think you could tell Keane? Also, he needs something to wear too, you wouldn't know if he has-" the blonde man tried to asked, but was cut off by the sound of Husky's cell phone going off in his pocket. Without even thinking about the fact that he was having a very rare conversation with his father, the silver boy quickly checked who it was. Cooro's name was flashing on the screen, and Husky turned back towards his father.

"Sorry dad, this is kind of important. I'll tell Keane about the funeral, don't worry, see ya," the ten year old said, practically running up the stairs, answering his phone when he was about halfway up. "Hey Cooro, what's wrong?" he asked, his voice quickly fading out of range from his father, who just stood in the doorway to the living room, a bit at a loss for what to do now. Slowly, he turned around and headed back to his own room.

Once in his room, Husky made sure to shut the door so that his dad would have more trouble listening to him if he decided to follow. He kind of doubted that he would though, for he never really was that interested in his life before, so there wasn't that big of a chance for him to start snooping and looking through his life now, even after everything that had happened.

"Hey Husky, nothing's wrong. I think, well, I just wanted to tell you that Nana said she has a marking too, and if it's okay if we all meet up tomorrow," the black haired boy said into the old phone, twirling the wire around his fingers as he spoke. Husky sighed softly; so he was right about Nana.

"I want to, but my dad just told me that Dylana's funeral's gonna be tomorrow, so yeah," the silver boy explained. He didn't want them to have to reschedule because of him, especially if Nana needed to see them all. Well, it'd probably be fine with just Cooro and Senri. They could take care of her, and he wasn't about to be allowed to ditch his stepmother's funeral to hang out with his friends, that was for sure.

"Oh, okay. Well, we can always… hey? Did you say your dad just told you?" the black haired boy asked, cutting himself off in the middle of whatever he had been trying to say before. Husky just nodded.

"Yeah, and?" he said, not quite sure where Cooro was going with this.

"Shouldn't you have known sooner than the night before? I mean, it seems kind of important and all…" Cooro asked, and Husky nodded, almost chuckling at the fact that even Cooro could tell that there was something wrong with what had happened there.

"I know, but my dad just kind of forgot to tell us, since he was busy planning it and all. Um, so about Nana, you guys should just meet up without me, I'll get caught up later. I should be coming back to school soon anyway," he said, changing the subject back to what they'd been discussing before. Sitting down at the kitchen table, Cooro couldn't help but agree. He wanted Husky to be there, but wasn't about to try and get him to ditch a funeral of all things.

"Okay, we'll do that," the black haired boy said, before looking around the empty kitchen and sighing slightly. He guessed now was as good a time as any. "Hey Husky?" he asked, before the silver boy got the chance to say anything else.

"Yeah?" he answered, and Cooro stopped messing with the curled up wire to trace the patterns of the wood grain with his fingers.

"Why… why do you and Nana and probably even Senri have to go through such bad things when I just had a bad dream. It doesn't make any sense. I don't deserve that…" Cooro said quietly into the receiver, hoping he could get some kind of answer from the younger boy. Even if he just told him he was right, and he didn't deserve the luxury that none of them had. Actually, that was what he wanted to hear, but he didn't.

"Hey, don't worry about that, okay? It doesn't matter how we got these powers, the point is we all have them now, and we just need to take it from there, okay?" Husky said, but Cooro couldn't except that.

"But it's not fair. You and Nana-" the older boy started, but Husky cut him off before he was able to get any farther.

"What happened to me and Nana has nothing to do with you. I told you not to worry about it. The best thing you can do now is make sure that Nana's alright," the silver boy tried again, and Cooro just sighed and slumped down in his chair.

"But it's not fair…" he said quietly, so much so that Husky almost couldn't hear him, but he did, and this time he sighed.

"Life isn't fair Cooro, I think we've all learned that by now. Look, I need to go tell Keane about the funeral. I'll talk to you later, okay?" Husky said, and Cooro just nodded. He still wished Husky had yelled at him instead of trying to make him feel better.

"Okay, later," he mumbled, before hanging up the phone. Husky closed his phone and sighed to himself. What Cooro said wasn't true. Okay, it kind of was. It wasn't fair, but he shouldn't be beating himself up over it. It wasn't his fault all this was happening, so he had no reason to act like he got off lucky. None of them were lucky.

Shaking his head, he quickly pocketed his phone and went over to Keane's room at the other end of the hallway. Bracing himself momentarily at the door, he softly knocked before letting himself in. Keane was on his bed, some kind of book in his lap that he quickly closed in order to put his attention on Husky.

"Hey, dad wanted me to tell you the funeral's going to be tomorrow. Do you have something nice to wear? And probably black?" the silver boy asked, not too sure how well he'd said all that. Keane just nodded after thinking for a moment. Without saying anything he got up and walked over to his closet, rummaging through it for a moment before pulling out a nice, black outfit, just like Husky had asked for.

"Um, thanks. I'll go wash this, I guess. I'll just wear the same outfit I wore to mom's funeral…" he said, and Keane nodded again. "You sure you're okay?" the silver boy asked, and Keane nodded.

"I'm fine, are you?" he asked, and Husky had to blink a few times as the question registered in his head, and once it did, it still boggled him that Keane could ask him those kinds of questions with what he was going though. Sure, he had his own sort of problems on the side, but Keane didn't know anything about all that, and Husky wasn't about to tell him, that was for sure.

"Yeah, I'm alright. You shouldn't be worrying about me right now. Well, I'm gonna go wash this stuff for tomorrow, before it gets too late," the younger brother said, and Keane just sat back down on his bed, briefly looking up right before Husky managed to shut the door.

"Don't forget to eat," he said, surprising Husky slightly, who just nodded his head after it had worn off a bit.

"I won't," he called back, effectively closing the door behind him before going to his room to find the clothes he needed. They had to be around here somewhere, but he hadn't worn them since the funeral, and then he moved here, so he really had no clue.

Okay, so he just needed to find his outfit and wash both his and Keane's clothes for tomorrow. Then he had to figure out what to do about Nana. The others had to meet without him. Cooro too, he needed to try and keep Cooro from going insane from having to help Nana right after he managed to get himself out of his hair. It didn't help that he was starting to feel like he deserved to have some sort of near death experience too. Oh, and they kept putting off finding a home for Senri. They needed to do that before it started to snow.

Blinking slightly during a break in his search for his clothes, he knew there was something else he had to do. Keane had said something about… something. Ah well, he'd remember if it was important.

Placing the phone back into its holder, Cooro sighed. He guessed he should just listen to what Husky said for now and try and do the best he could to make sure Nana was okay, but it was hard when he felt like this.

Shaking his head, he quickly went over to the fridge, got a glass of water, and started to head back upstairs. It didn't matter how down he felt right now, the others came first. They still had so many things they needed to do. If he was going to try and at least make up for being so lucky, then he should stop focusing on himself and start focusing on them. After all, it was the least he could do.

Reaching his room, he found Nana in the same exact place he'd left her, and placed the cup of water down on the desk next to her. Thankfully she understood it was for her once he walked away from it and sat down on the bed, and she actually drank some.

"What did Husky say?" the brunette asked after placing the drink back down.

"He said that he wants to come, but the funeral is tomorrow, so he can't make it. He said that the rest of us should still meet up though, and that he'd get caught up another time," Cooro explained, and Nana nodded slowly.

"Okay…" she said after a moment, momentarily taking a few sips from her water. After a while the drink was gone, and it was almost nine o'clock. "Now what?" she asked, and Cooro wasn't too sure.

"I don't know. I guess I'll go get some stuff so you can sleep. Do you want some of my old pajamas or anything?" the black haired boy asked as he started to get up, but Nana shook her head in the negative.

"No thanks, I'll just wear this," she said, and Cooro nodded hesitantly. If that was what she wanted, then he'd let her.

"If you say so," he said after a moment, before leaving the room to find the sleeping bag and other things they had put away after Husky had left. It didn't take him very long, and soon he had it all spread out and ready on his bedroom floor.

"Thanks for this Cooro, I promise it's only for tonight," Nana said, but Cooro shook his head.

"I already said that you can stay as long as you need, and you get the bed," the black haired boy explained, causing Nana to look a bit confused. "I said, you get the bed. You're the guest, after all," Cooro repeated.

"But…" Nana started, but didn't manage to get anything else out as Cooro stubbornly shook his head. Finally she sat down slowly on the bed. "Alright," she conceded, and once again Cooro flashed her a smile. By now though, the brunette wasn't too sure how real they actually were. She wasn't about to comment on it though. It was taking everything she had to keep up this conversation, let alone start one about the validity of one of her friend's emotions.

"Good," Cooro said, laying down on the sleeping bag as Nana got into bed. The two didn't say anything after that, assuming after a while that the other had gone to sleep.

As the hours stretched on and it got later and later, both were still awake, lost in their own worries, the silence surrounding them betraying absolutely nothing.

* * *

Hurray, and it's finished. Husky and Cooro just can't stop and actually think about themselves every once and a while, can they? And Nana's not really getting any better either. And poor Senri is severely lacking in this story, isn't he? I mean, I'm pretty sure Keane has gotten more time devoted to him then Senri. I'm terribly sorry about that. I really want to get to him, but other things keep popping up (why am I acting like I'm not the one writing this and with full control?)

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, and please review.


	34. Chapter 33

Hello everybody. Sorry about the wait on this one again. Life's been doing it's life thing and keeping me from having any time. Also, a squirrel keeps breaking into my kitchen and stealing my food. How many other people in the world even have that problem? Anyway, on with the chapter.

Also, with this chapter this story had offically reached over 100,000 words :D Woohoo, longest story by _far_ and I thank you all for following for this long.

Chapter 33

The next morning Husky woke up early, having set his alarm to go off at 8 AM the night before. It was still late compared to when he had to wake up for school, but it didn't really matter. As long as he got ready for the funeral in time. He'd finally managed to find his clothes last night in a box near the back of his closet. They were washed now, but it'd probably be a better idea to get something to eat before he got dressed so that they wouldn't just get dirty again.

Leaving his room he quickly went over to Keane's first to make sure he was awake. Knocking on the door, he let himself in before Keane said anything anyway. The red head was lying on his bed, and Husky couldn't tell if he was asleep or not. He probably was.

"Hey Keane wake up, we have to get ready for the funeral," the younger boy said, and Keane sat up without complaint, pulling some headphones out of his ears that Husky hadn't seen before. Huh, guess he was awake. Keane simply nodded, and his brother left, shutting the door behind him without another word.

When he got downstairs he didn't feel like eating, but knew he should. He couldn't actually remember if he did or didn't last night, but it was better to be safe and actually eat, even if he didn't feel hungry. Haphazardly he made himself some toast and juice, sitting at the dining room table in silence as he halfheartedly ate, his mind on different matters.

He just hoped Nana was okay. The others could take care of her but… he still wanted to be there. It was just… dang it! He didn't want to go to this funeral! Pushing the half eaten toast away he went upstairs, not sure where the emotions he was feeling were coming from. He'd been just fine up until now. He had to go because she was his stepmother. She was Keane's mother, he should just suck it up.

Sitting down on his bed he shook his head. She was Keane's mother, he cared about her. He needed to respect that. They all went to his mother's funeral, Keane had even looked pretty upset. Sighing slightly, he was upset all right, but it wasn't the right kind. He just… no matter how much he tried to ignore it, no matter how much he had genuinely felt terrible when he found out what happened, it was just… she tried to kill him. She was the reason he couldn't come home for so long; the reason he had these strange powers.

Standing back up, he tried to push it all away. It didn't matter. He had to convince himself it didn't matter. Quickly putting on his black outfit, he went downstairs and sat on the living room couch. He didn't hear his father moving around or anything, and frankly he had no clue what time the funeral actually was, but that was fine. He didn't have anything else to do today, he'd just wait here until it was time to go.

Trying to keep his breath calm—he hadn't suffered any more anxiety attacks since the one at school—he stared out the window. He just had to make it through one day, then it'd all be over and done with and he'd never have to think about that woman again. Just one more day.

When Cooro woke up Nana was still asleep, so he quietly made his way out of the room without waking her. She shouldn't go to school today, but he still had to. As he walked down the stairs the black haired boy wondered what the real reasons were behind all of her missed days, but he wasn't going to pry. He didn't want to upset her, after all.

Reaching the kitchen he caught sight of Mother Superior sitting at the table. He had to explain about Nana, somehow. If she went up there, or if Nana came down, it'd be really awkward if he didn't warn her first.

"Good morning Mother Superior," he said happily, giving the woman a small smile. She smiled back and nodded, putting down the glass cup she was holding before speaking.

"Good morning Cooro. Did you get along all right last night?" she asked. Okay, here it goes. Hopefully she wouldn't question him too much, since he couldn't really answer any question he didn't know the answer to.

"Just fine Mother, but um… you remember how Husky had been staying here for a while?" he asked, figuring that just the comparison would be enough for her, and she'd understand. The old nun nodded, looking at him curiously.

"Yes. Is he back?" she asked him, a hint of worry in her voice. The eleven year old quickly shook his head, and the curiosity on her face increased. "Is something else wrong then?" she said, and Cooro took a small breath. She was already asking more questions than when Husky had shown up, but then again when Husky had first shown up, he wasn't in the best condition to be answering questions. Cooro on the other hand was just fine.

"Um well, would it be okay if a different friend stayed for a little while?" he managed to ask, a bit surprised at how unsurprised the old woman looked.

"Oh, you mean that teen boy with the eye patch? What's his name again, Senri correct?" she said, and Cooro tried to keep himself from flinching. Well, if she was that open to the idea of Senri staying here, then at least it wouldn't be a problem when winter came and they hopefully were able to get him to stay.

"No, not Senri… um, you remember Nana, she's been over a few times to visit. Um, something happened at her house last night, but I don't know what, so is it okay if she stays here while I go to school? She didn't really look too good last night," the black haired boy explained. It really was the truth, he didn't know what happened at her house. Reluctantly, Mother Superior nodded.

"Of course she can stay. You have no idea what happened to her?" she asked, and Cooro shook his head.

"None. It might have something to do with her parents, but I didn't want to pry, she seemed upset," he said, and it seemed to satisfy the old nun, who just nodded again. Grabbing his book bag off a chair he'd placed it on, Cooro walked towards the door. "Thanks for understanding," he called as he walked outside, the door shutting behind him before he was able to hear whatever her answer was.

Walking along the sidewalk alone, the black haired boy's mind slowly started to wander. He wondered how Husky was doing. He was probably still asleep, since it was still so early, but he did have Dylana's funeral later today. It probably wasn't something he or Keane was looking forward to, and he couldn't blame them. People always seemed so sad at the funerals the church had. It was strange though, he'd never actually felt what it was to lose family. Of course, a lot of kids his age hadn't, but it wasn't that. He didn't actually have any family to lose.

Well, maybe he could visit him tomorrow. He'd need to get caught up with everything they talked about with Senri today in the park, whatever it is that's going to be. He really didn't have a clue.

An hour later, Husky was still sitting on the couch, and he wasn't feeling any calmer than before. He hadn't had an attack yet though, which he guessed was a good thing. He just had to make sure he didn't have one when they were actually at the funeral. That wouldn't be good, not at all.

After what felt like an eternity, his father came walking out of his room. He looked down at Husky a bit bewildered, but started to speak none the less.

"Myrrha, is your brother ready?" he asked, and Husky shrugged slightly. Keane hadn't come downstairs since he'd told him to wake up. "Could you go and check on him, we have to be there early," he said, and Husky just nodded, standing up without a word and walking up the stairs.

When he reached Keane's room he let himself in, finding the boy once again sitting in his bed, now able to see the wire of the headphones leading up to his ears. Thankfully he was dressed in the outfit that Husky had washed. The red head looked up at him as he leaned against the doorframe.

"Dad says that we need to leave soon," he said blankly, not really feeling sure of himself. Maybe he should take some of his anxiety medicine before they left, but the only problem was it'd been so long, he couldn't remember where it was, and he still didn't want Keane to see. By now he knew that the older boy wasn't going to make fun of him, not by a long shot. Now the dilemma was that he didn't want to worry him.

"Alright, thanks Myrrha," Keane mumbled, pushing himself out of bed and slipping on a pair of lace up black shoes. The silver boy just shrugged, he'd only delivered a message.

"I'll be downstairs," he said, and Keane just nodded as he tied his shoes. Husky left him, finding his father still standing in the living room, just now noticing that he too was wearing black. It was a suit, different from the one he wore to his mother's funeral, but Husky couldn't really tell how. All suits looked the same to him. "He's putting his shoes on," he mumbled and his father nodded once more.

"Alright, we'll leave when he comes down," the tall man said, and Husky just sat down on the couch again as he waited. It was a bit useless though, seeing as Keane was walking down the stairs in less than a minute. "Are you ready to go?" their father asked, and Keane nodded. Husky stood up from his spot and it wasn't long before the three were in the car and on their way. The silver boy somehow managed to hold back a sigh. He just had to get through today and everything would be okay. Okay, not everything, not by a long shot, but he wouldn't have to deal with this anymore, at the very least.

When they reached the funeral home the two boys quickly followed their father inside, neither quite sure on what they were suppose to do. He hadn't told them much of anything, including when the funeral was going to start, and even though they'd been through a funeral before, this one held decisively different feelings for both of them.

"Um, Dad? When is everything going to start?" Husky asked, not really thinking that Keane would end up being the first to speak up. When the older man looked down at him, he couldn't help but think how strange it was seeing him so off.

"Guest should start arriving in about an hour or so. You two may… do as you wish until then," he said, before walking away from his sons and into what could only be some sort of office for whoever owned the building. Glancing around the room, Husky saw several boards that lined the aisle, appropriately covered with photos of Dylana, and a closed casket up at the front of the room. He didn't know if it was going to stay closed, or if someone would open it once people started to arrive, but either way none of this was making him feel more comfortable in any way.

"Are you okay?" the red head asked quietly at him side, and Husky quickly nodded. There wasn't any need to make the boy feel even worse at his own mother's funeral.

"Just fine. I'm gonna wait outside until the guest start to arrive," he said, already starting back towards the entrance, carefully making sure he didn't look at any of the photo boards. Keane almost started after him, before quickly stopping himself.

"You sure?" he asked, and Husky simply nodded without looking back.

"Positive," the younger boy mumbled before shutting the heavy oak door behind him and sitting on raised wooden board that caged in a half dead flowerbed. Well, now he had nothing to do but sit here for an hour until people started to arrive, and then hear them say how sorry they were for his loss and feel extremely awkward because the more he thought about it the more he couldn't help but feel that there hadn't been any loss. At least, not for him.

Glancing back at the door, the silver boy started to wonder if it had been the best idea to leave Keane alone. It wasn't like there was anything he could do in there, and it wasn't exactly anymore thrilling out here. He'd probably like having a moment alone with Dylana anyway. It'd just be awkward if he was there.

Another ten minutes of sitting outside doing nothing but wondering about things like what the others were doing right now and how much he'd end up missing at school again and if he'd even be able to pass this year he noticed a sleek white car pull up. Husky frowned slightly as he watched it park, but was unable to see whoever was inside thanks to sun glare. He knew he'd seen the car before, but couldn't place where, not to mention guests weren't suppose to arrive for another hour. He knew some people tended to arrive early, but it didn't keep the fact that he'd have to deal with them for even longer from annoying him.

The silver boy blinked in surprise when a tall blonde woman carefully stepped out of the car. She was dressed in a long black dress suit and unlike the car, he instantly recognized her.

"Aunt Crystala?" he said, not loud enough for her to hear him across the parking lot though, so she hadn't yet noticed him. He knew that he shouldn't really be surprised, she was his father's twin sister, and even though he didn't see her often, was probably his favorite relative on his father's side. Well at least, before he and Keane had started getting along, that is. Of course she'd be at the funeral, and it didn't surprise him that she was early either. It'd been the same at his mother's.

Crystala almost instantly caught sight of him when she looked over at the building and started walking in his direction, a sad smile on her face. Husky quickly started poking around at the dirt in the flowerbed with a twig, not making any eye contact.

"Myrrha, how are you feeling?" she asked once she reached him, and Husky just shrugged slightly, not sure how he should respond. It occurred to him that most of the people who came would have no idea what the deceased woman had done to him, and if any did, well, he had absolutely no idea how they would feel about him being there.

"Fine…" he mumbled figuring that despite is being obviously untrue, was the answer least likely to get him in any sort of uneasy situation. Looking around the empty parking lot, he frowned slightly, although it wasn't necessarily in disappointment. "Where's Daisy?" he asked, looking up at his aunt for the first time since she'd shown up.

"At school, they're having state testing this week, so she couldn't miss it," Crystala informed him, and he just nodded. State testing, shoot. They had to be giving that out at his school too, and now he'd have to make it up. At least he had an excuse, as of right now he wasn't too sure if that applied to Nana as well.

"Oh, okay," he said, not too upset that the young girl wasn't there. She was his cousin, or at least, she become that when Crystala had adopted her when she was six. Although he didn't hate her per say, she was just a bit too hyper and a bit too girly for the silver boy to really have any joy when around her. Crystala smiled at him again before looking towards the entrance.

"Is your father inside?" she asked, and Husky nodded. It was no secret that his aunt and father didn't exactly get along most of the time, so he had no idea how any meeting between them would go.

"Yeah, and Keane," he answered. With a quick goodbye the blonde woman went inside the funeral home, leaving him once again alone outside, not that he minded, of course. She probably knew that well enough to not have asked him to come inside either. He couldn't help but wonder why she had come so early though. It was probably to just help with anything she could, but it still worried him slightly.

Husky carefully traced the collar of his shirt where the black markings were hidden underneath. She was more perceptive then his father, and he was a bit surprised that Keane hadn't found out anything yet. Then again, he hadn't seen him much when he was at Cooro's, and since he came home well, he hadn't been the most alert person in the world.

Even though he knew it was inevitable for someone to find out; best case scenario was that they thought he got a tattoo at ten, worse was they found out he was a freakin' mermaid. Sighing out loud, the silver haired boy leaned his head against the brick wall behind him. There was one other thing he knew besides his inevitable reveal, and that was that all this thinking was not making him any calmer, not at all.

After another ten minutes of sitting outside and watching the cars on the street fly by, Husky glanced back at the door. He didn't particularly want to go back inside, but he did want to see if anything was happening, and unfortunately the door was not made out of glass. Sighing slightly under his breath, the ten year old figured that it wouldn't be too bad to go back inside for just a few minutes.

It was basically exactly how he had left it, Keane the only one in the room, although now he was sitting in one of the chairs that lined the front wall. Huh, he hadn't noticed them earlier. Decisively trying to avoid looking at the coffin, Husky walked over to him.

"Hey, where's aunt Crystala?" he asked once he reached the older boy's side. Keane pointed towards the same office door that their father had walked into earlier, before answering.

"Talking to Dad, I guess. She's been in there for almost ten minutes now," he said quietly. It bothered Husky how subdued his brother was now, but this wasn't the time to talk about it. After the funeral maybe, when they both had enough time to cool down, but not now. Without really thinking it over, the silver boy started walking towards the office door. "Where are you going?" Keane called after him, and Husky just shrugged.

"I dunno. Just… seeing if everything's okay," he said after a few moments, starting back towards the office. The redhead didn't say anything after that, just watching him as he stood in front of the door. Too unsure to actually go in, he decided to listen in instead.

"Amir, you're not listening to me," he could hear his aunt clearly through the door. There was a large crack where it was suppose to touch the frame but didn't quite make it. It was strange, hearing someone call his father by his first name, but he'd heard stranger. What wasn't surprising was the fact that they didn't seem to be getting along like perfect siblings.

"I don't need you to tell me how to raise my sons," Husky could barely keep himself from flinching at that comment, knowing for sure now that whatever they were talking about had to do with him and Keane. Almost instinctively he glanced back at the redhead, who was watching him with a confused if not curious face. Well, it wasn't like he could hear anything from the other end of such a long room.

Turning his head back towards the door, he figured he could tell him anything important when he finished listening.

"I'm not telling you how to raise them, I'm just worried about them. Four months after Marein's death this happens? How are they dealing with this?" she asked, sounding a bit fed up with his father. Keane had said she'd been in there for about ten minutes, so they might have been going on like this for a while.

"Just fine," his father nearly growled. It was odd, Husky almost never saw his father, and he saw him angry even less. Of course, the few times he had seen him like this had been when talking to his aunt, so at least that was a bit normal. From the exasperated noise he heard Crystala make, he could tell she didn't quite believe him.

"Amir, they're fine? Keane's just barely turned thirteen, Myrrha's ten. This isn't something kids that age can just shrug off," she said, sounding not quite as mad, but certainly more assertive then his father. Husky would have been annoyed at the emphasis on his age if it wasn't for the fact that she actually had a point. He was only ten. He tended to forget that sometimes.

"And what do you want me to do about it? I would have prevented it if I knew something was wrong!" his father yelled, and when he heard Crystala answer him this time, much of the anger and force in her voice was gone.

"I know you would have. No one saw this coming, much less try to prevent it. Do they even knew why she did it?" Crystala asked, and Husky knew then and there that she hadn't been told what had happened to him, and probably no one else had either. The silver boy wished that he could see how the two adults looked right now, but wasn't about to open the door and interrupt them.

"No," his father said, a coldness to his voice that almost made Husky shiver. The bluntness of it made the boy wonder if his father planned on letting anyone know what happened. He might of just been trying to hide if from his sister, but the finality of the answer made him think differently. He didn't know why any of that should bother him though. He hadn't planned on letting anyone know what had happened, even after she died. It was Keane who ended up telling the police, not him.

Before he could hear another word, Husky started back down the long funeral home room towards Keane, before finally sitting down in one of the chairs next to him.

"Did something happen?" the redhead asked as he looked him over a bit, worry clear in his eyes. Husky just shook his head though, staring straight ahead at the closed coffin, but not really seeing it.

"No," he mumbled, not sounding anywhere near as confident as his father had. Nothing had happened though. It wasn't any surprise that their aunt was worried about them, any close family member would be. Keane just nodded, sighing to himself slightly before deciding to leave the younger boy be.

Why did he keep caring about things he shouldn't? He hadn't wanted anyone to know what Dylana had tried to do, so in a way his dad was actually making sure he got what he wished for. He should be happy not… whatever it was he was feeling. There was just a sinking feeling he couldn't ignore, even as his aunt walked out of the office.

His father didn't want anyone to know his wife had tried to kill him, to think bad of her after death. He didn't want anyone to think bad of him for letting it happen, for not noticing his son had ran away for a month afterwards. He didn't want anyone to know why she hated that boy enough to try and kill him, to find out his less than honorable past. Myrrha could deal with it on his own, it had been over a month ago. Myrrha was fine, Myrrha had lived, that was all that mattered. If he was fine physically, he must be fine mentally.

Standing up fast enough to cause his chair to bang against the wall, freezing both his brother and aunt from shock, Husky ran out of the funeral home without a word. It was childish, it was stupid, but as he ran across the parking lot and down the sidewalk without even glancing back, he really didn't care.

He didn't want to go to that funeral anyway.

* * *

And once again, Husky steals all the attention back to him, and in the longest chapter to date, not including bonus ones. That kid just has problems that are so fun to write. Anyway, once again, sorry for the wait, life hit me with a bomb the other day, when I had half the chapter done, but I'm feeling better now and was able to finish it.

Well, hope you liked it, and please review to tell me what you think.


	35. Chapter 34

Hello everyone. I really shouldn't be writing, but my inspiration for writing is a lot greater right now then my inspiration for art.

One thing I have to say before the chapter though, is that I have posted a poll on my account concerning Fly and this story. It has a few choices for how you'd want to have him introduced. Yep, Fly will appear, but I haven't decided how yet. So please vote and help me out.

Chapter 34

It wasn't until much later that Husky allowed himself to slow down to a walk. He had heard aunt Crystala calling his name when he'd reached the edge of the parking lot, but he hadn't stopped, and he had no idea how far she's managed to chase him, or if Keane had been with her. He'd made a lot of turns though, and he'd been running for quite a while, he had to of lost her by now. That, or she'd given up and figured he'd come back on his own.

Looking around himself now though, he really had no clue where he was, but that wasn't too much of a problem. The funeral home had only been about ten minutes away from the house in the car, and he somehow had managed to at least run in the general direction of home when he had sprinted off.

Quickly asking a man for directions to the park, he went off at a much calmer pace then he'd been before, although he wasn't much better than when he'd first sprung up on the inside.

His father didn't care, so why should he? It shouldn't even be that big of a surprise. He'd never cared. It was all about his image, what the other fancy business owners thought of him. He'd always known this, so why was it such a big deal now? He wasn't about to head back though, not after he'd run out like he had. He kept coming back to the fact that he hadn't wanted anyone to know what Dylana had done, and that by that reasoning he should be happy.

Scowling to himself as he crossed the street, it was obvious he wasn't happy. Even if this is what he wanted, he didn't want it to happen like this. He didn't know how he would of wanted it, but not like this.

Husky wasn't sure how much later it was when he'd finally reached the park. He didn't even know why he'd decided to come here of all places, but decide not to think about it too much as he shot another staring individual a glare that made them continue on in their day. Yeah, he knew it was strange seeing a kid walking around outside in a fancy black suit at a park during school hours, but he wasn't about to explain to everyone staring why.

The silver boy actually managed to smile slightly at the sight of Senri wondering around the edge of the park's forest. So he didn't go to school. They'd have to do something about that later. Well, even though he didn't really know the teen all that well, Husky walked up to him. It'd be better then shuffling around alone, and at least he kind of understood the situation he was in.

"Hey Senri," Husky mumbled, managing to catch the older boy's attention rather easily. He looked confused, but still seemed to recognize him none the less. Husky just shrugged, not really sure what to say. Even when they'd been waiting together for Cooro and Nana to show up the other day, they hadn't said much. He couldn't even remember if Senri had spoke at all.

"Um, is it okay if I stay with you for a while, at least until Cooro and Nana show up when school's done?" he asked after a moment, and Senri nodded, not seeming to mind the presence of the younger boy at all. "Thanks," he said, still not used to how silent the other was.

The two didn't do much of anything, neither all that talkative at the moment. When they sat down at the park bench that was starting to become like a meeting place for the four of them, Husky started scraping away at the old wood with a stick. He didn't care if he was getting little shavings all over his clothes.

"Fish…" the quiet word startled the younger boy at first, but after a few moments he nodded, beginning to scrape away at the table once again.

"Yeah, I'm a fish, and you're a bear right? And Cooro's a crow… and Nana's a bat now," he answered, and Senri just nodded. Husky was really hoping that the older boy wasn't just figuring all of this out, but they'd explained it before, maybe he was just making sure or something. It didn't really seem all that believable, after all. When Senri didn't speak again, Husky decided to carry on the conversation himself.

"So… have you ever been around real bears before?" he asked, and the teen simply shook his head. He guessed that made sense, since there wasn't really any animals like that around here, unless you went to a zoo or something. Having managed to scrape away a small indent into the wood, the silver boy decided to ask another question.

"What do you think we all are, really? I know there's some sort of connection, there has to be. People don't turn into monsters for no reason, and even if they did, you wouldn't think it'd be so random. Mermaids, vampires, none of its right," Husky sighed to himself before looking back up into the teen's one eye. "What in the world are we?" he asked, surprised that he was actually speaking to the teen like this. It didn't feel fair to ask Cooro and Nana questions like these, but he guessed there was just something about someone who will only listen.

"Human," Senri answered, and Husky just stared at him a moment before laughing, although it sounded more bitter then anything. Rolling his eyes slightly, he started scraping away at the table again, harder this time.

"Yeah, we're human all right," he said sarcastically, earning a confused look from Senri, although he didn't take any note of it. "Just as human as the Loch Ness monster and dragons, sure." Senri stared at him, an almost sad look on his face, but Husky didn't look up to see it, just kept shaving away more flakes of the table, lost in his own thought.

Cooro walked out of school, very glad that the day was over. True, he hadn't actually gone through any classes, apparently state testing was all this week, he still wasn't really sure how he'd missed hearing about that. He was pretty sure that he hadn't done very good on it at all, but it didn't actually affect his overall grade, so it didn't really matter. It was just hard for him to concentrate on anything now a days.

It wasn't long before he arrived at the church and ran up to his room, managing to avoid any conversations with Mother Superior. When he opened the door he found Nana sitting on his bed, flipping through one of his books halfheartedly. He felt kind of bad that he kept having his friends stay here all day alone, without even a TV or anything to watch. Placing his book bag on the floor next to the door, he made his way in, smiling the entire time.

"Hey, I'm back. How was your day?" he asked, causing Nana to look up and smile at him, although it wasn't a very convincing one.

"Good, I talked to the nun here a little bit, she's really nice," the brunette said, closing the book in her lap and leaning over to place it on the desk. Cooro just nodded. Well, if Mother Superior talked to Nana herself, then there would probably be less for her to ask him about, which was a good thing.

"So, when do you want to head over to the park? I'm not really sure what we're gonna do there, but maybe we can figure out something," Cooro asked, leaning against his wall slightly. Nana just shrugged, pushing herself off the bed and standing up.

"Why not now, I don't have anything else to do," she suggested, and the older boy was perfectly fine with that. He couldn't help but notice how casual Nana was being about everything. She was taking it a lot better than Husky had, and even though she had the warning, something just seemed off about it. He didn't think her to be so accepting, and they didn't even know how this had happened yet. Managing to keep himself from sighing at the last second and giving his train of thoughts away, he smiled again and nodded in agreement.

"That sounds like a good idea, let's go then," he said happily, and Nana quickly got her shoes on before following the black haired boy down the stairs and out the back door. They didn't talk much at first, but as they got closer to the park, Cooro started to frown to himself.

"Um, something wrong? Cooro?" Nana asked, noticing the strange look of concentration on his face, and the older boy quickly snapped out of it, smiling at her again. That only caused her to frown now though, already used to him trying to cover up whatever he was hiding with a smile.

"Yeah, I just um, it's nothing," he decided, but Nana had stopped walking now, causing him to stop as well and look back at her. It was strange, he still wasn't used to people calling him out on his acting, although Husky, Nana and Senri had been the only three people to ever actually do it.

"No it's not, tell me what's wrong," she said sternly, and Cooro wasn't sure what to say back. He didn't actually know what was wrong, just a strange feeling. Like the other night, when he'd ended up finding Nana alone in the forest, but without the dread. Just a pulling he couldn't place, like there was something in the park. He blinked slightly when he finally realized it was almost like a magnified version of however it felt when he'd try to find Senri. He had no idea how he was suppose to explain something like that.

"It's nothing. I just think we should get to the park, I have a weird feeling about it," he said at last, hoping the brunette would just listen to him. Thankfully after a moment she nodded, and started off towards the park again without another word.

When they reached the gated entrance, Cooro smiled at the sight of Senri sitting down at one of the picnic benches, the one they'd sat at each time before. That smile was quickly replaced with a frown when he spotted the much smaller form sitting across from him, worry instantly hitting him.

"Uh oh," he mumbled, quickly getting Nana's attention before she was able to see them.

"Huh, what's wrong Cooro?" she asked, quickly looking at him and then back towards the park to see if she could spot whatever sight had made him look so concerned. Taking a small breath, he quickly pointed towards where the two were sitting.

"Look who's with Senri," he said quietly, drawling his hand back once she was pointed in the right direction so that the two wouldn't see they were staring at them. She quickly saw what he was talking about, although her look was more of confusion then worry at first. He didn't really blame her though, he might just be assuming the worst by immediately thinking that something bad had happened.

"Husky? What's he doing here, I thought you said that he had to go to Dylana's funeral," she asked, looking over at him, clearly befuddled. Cooro just nodded though, still getting the district feeling that something was probably wrong, but then again, lately not much had really been right.

"He did," was all the black haired boy said, and almost instantly realization seemed to hit her, and her eyes widened as she looked back over towards the two.

"Oh… oh no," she said, and the two quickly shared one last look of confusion before heading over to the other part of their four person group to figure out for sure just what was wrong. As they got close it was clear that the silver boy was dressed for a funeral, and that didn't ease their worries in the slightest.

Husky caught sight of them before they managed to make it all the way over, and he wasn't really sure what to do. Any smile would look awkward and forced, and if he looked upset they'd get worried. Not sure what else to do, he quickly broke eye contact and went back to scraping a hole into the table.

"Husky, I though the funeral was today," Cooro said once they reached the end of the picnic table, both quickly sitting down. The silver boy just shrugged, looking up at the two indifferently.

"It is," he said simply, not about to lie about it. He'd already told them he wasn't going to be here, so of course they'd be confused when they showed up and he was sitting here waiting for them. Just because he wasn't going to lie though, didn't mean he was about to just tell them everything. They were his friends yes, and that was why he didn't want to bother them with his stupid family problems when they had much bigger things to be worrying about.

"Oh, is it over already?" Nana asked, and Husky had to think for a moment. It was almost three now, if the two had come right after school. The main ceremonies were probably done, but there was still that reception like thing afterwards they had where everyone ate and tried to act like they weren't miserable.

"Probably not," he said at last, and the quick glance Cooro and Nana gave each other let him know that that was not the answer they had been hoping for, and quickly decided to change the subject. They weren't here to talk about his problems. "So, do we have any clearer idea what's going on since before Nana transformed, or are we still completely in the dark?" he asked, and after a while the other two decided to let whatever had caused Husky to leave the funeral early alone and concentrate on the reason why they decided to all meet up in the first place, like he was.

"I don't really know, that's what we're here to find out," Cooro said, and Husky just nodded. Sighing softly, Nana decided that it was best if she just spoke up now, since they wouldn't get anywhere if she didn't, and then this whole meeting would just be useless.

"It happened like Husky's… not drowning but… well y'know," she mumbled, and the others just nodded, knowing what she was talking about, and not wanting to press any farther on the matter, no matter how curious they were. They just had to be content with the fact that she'd shared that much with them.

"Okay, so there's a connection between two of us at least, but Cooro's still doesn't match up, and since Senri doesn't remember how his happened we can't look to that for any help." Husky said, already starting to take charge of the meeting. It bothered the others slightly. Not because they felt like they were being bossed around, but because despite all the trouble that had to be plaguing him at home, he was still fully immersing himself into their problems. It was almost as if this he'd just go from one problem to another whenever something started getting too bad.

Cooro nodded in agreement. No matter how much they all wanted to, they weren't going to comment on the silver boy's coping mechanism, at least, not now. Maybe once they were alone, he would ask him about it.

"Right, and um, no offense Senri, but something bad might have happened, considering your um… home," Cooro said hesitantly, but it didn't seem to bother the older boy all that much. It didn't really seemed like he understood what exactly he was talking about actually, but other three didn't bother to explain it to him.

"If that's right and something did happen to Senri, then that just leaves the way Cooro became a uhh… whatever as something different," Husky said, and the black haired boy quickly started staring at the ground.

"Sorry," he mumbled, but the other's didn't see any reason why he should be.

"I already told you to not worry about it. It doesn't matter, we're just trying to figure out why now, okay?" Husky said and reluctantly Cooro nodded. Nana wasn't too sure when this earlier conversation had happened, but wasn't going to start asking about it now. Husky was right when he said right now they just had to focus on why this was all happening. There had to be some sort of reason.

"So… now what?" the brunette asked after a few moments of silence. No one had any real answer to that question, and after a couple of seconds Husky slumped forward, leaning on the table with his elbows and scraping away at the indent yet again. The stick was starting to get steadily smaller as well, he'd have to get a new one soon if he wanted to keep on going.

"I have no clue," he grumbled and reluctantly Cooro nodded in agreement. None of them had any sort of clue what they were supposed to be doing, and it seemed like forever ago that Husky had moved here and all of this had started.

All four were silent after that, each trying to think of something that would help them. It wasn't exactly easy though, with all the mixed emotions and feelings and worries clouding their individual thoughts and keeping them from thinking strictly logically. They were, after all, just a group of children.

Looking up from examining the cracks and splinters in the table, Cooro noticed Nana staring off somewhere behind him, a slightly confused look on her face.

"Nana? Are you okay?" he asked, quickly bringing all attention at the table to the brunette. Silently she nodded before frowning slightly.

"Is it just me, or is that lady coming towards us?" she asked, and the other's eyes all went in the direction she was staring at. Only Husky recognized her, and instantly felt the inner worry in his stomach multiply. The other three were left blissfully confused as the woman in black continued her way across the park towards them.

"Yeah, I think she is," Cooro said after a moment, and Husky just nodded slightly. He was really hoping that she had given up looking for him after so long, but apparently she hadn't. Sighing slightly, he tried to keep himself from sounding worried.

"Yeah, she is," he mumbled, trying to think it if would be worth it to start running again. He didn't though, instead staying put and trying not to flinch as he heard her calling his name across the park.

"Myrrha!"

* * *

Hurray. My power stayed on long enough to let me post this, despite the hurricane. Yeah, I'm pretty badass, uploading fanfics in a hurricane. Also, I'll probably be posting a few pictures of the four kids on my deviant art account (link in my profile) within the next few days, in clothes from this story, so check out there sometime if you want.  
Well, I hope you like this chapter, and please review.


	36. Chapter 35

Hello my faithful readers. Before I start the chapter, I have to say something real quick. If anyone's interested in a potentially awesome new +anima story, you should check out Ghosts in the Machinery by TearsOfNightfall. She wrote another amazing story a few months ago, and when I suggested the main plot for this new story, she actually agreed to write it :3 (is still pretty ecstatic about that fact) So yeah, you should check it out once you're finished reading this.

Chapter 35

Crystala slowed down to a halt as she looked around the pleasant afternoon street, her nephew nowhere in sight. Sighing slightly, she quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed her brother's personal number. It took about three rings before he finally picked up.

"Hello?" he asked, sounding both annoyed and very mildly upset. She already knew that this was not one of the happiest days in her brother's life, so she would keep what she had to say short and to the point.

"Your son ran away," she said, not sure if Keane would have told him already or not. She'd managed to keep the redhead from following her and stay at the funeral home, although it caused her to loose her view on Myrrha at the same time, but she didn't know what he'd done after that. If she were to judge from the silence on the other end of the line though, she'd have to imagine that he had yet to tell his father. After a few moments he managed to clear his throat and start to speak again.

"He what?" he asked, hoping that he'd somehow managed to hear her wrong. Sadly he didn't, as she repeated what she had said before in slightly more detail.

"I don't know why, but Myrrha suddenly got up and ran off. I tried to catch him but he got away. Do _you _have any idea why he'd do that, or where in the world he'd go?" she asked, hoping to get some sort of direction in her search. She didn't get to see her nephews much, and had absolutely no clue where the silver haired boy would have ran off to.

"No… tell me where you are, I'll come look for him," Amir said, but Crystala quickly shook her head even though he couldn't actually see it.

"People will be arriving at any minute, you need to stay there. I'll find him. Let Keane on the phone, he might know where he could of gone," she said and reluctantly the blonde man agreed, calling over Keane from where he was still waiting outside. It wasn't long before she heard the phone being passed over to the young boy.

"You haven't found him yet?" he asked, sounding even more worried then his father had, surprising Crystala slightly. She knew the brothers hadn't gotten along very well, but maybe things had changed with all the tragedy.

"Not yet, but don't worry, he's bond to be around here somewhere. You wouldn't have any idea where he could of ran off to, do you?" she asked, and it was a few moments later before Keane finally answered. He wasn't too sure if he should or not, but as much as he knew that the silver boy didn't want to be there, he was too worried about him to just let him be running off to who know's where.

"There's a small church on 3rd street, he might be there. If not, I guess you could check the park," he said, and Crystala raised an eyebrow slightly, not having expected that as an answer.

"A church?" she couldn't help but ask, and on his end of the line Keane nodded.

"Yeah, I don't know if he's actually religious or anything, but the real reason is his best friend lives there, so he tends to hang out around him when he's upset," he explained, and Crystala nodded. Before she got the chance to say goodbye, the redhead started up once more. "You know, he doesn't have to come back to the funeral if he doesn't want to, I understand…" he whispered, but the blonde woman just shook her head.

"No, it's alright. he'll be back before it's over, I promise," Saying a few more words, she hung up her phone and quickly started in the direction of the church her nephew had mentioned. She just hoped that Myrrha was at one of the two places he'd said, or else she'd have to either call back or just search the entire town. Either way, she'd find him eventually.

When she reached the church a little while later, she quietly made her way inside. She'd gotten lost a few times, but was just glad that she'd finally managed to make it. Softly, she breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw there wasn't any sort of service going on at the moment. At the front of the church, near the alter she saw an aged nun carrying a few candles.

"Excuse me, ma'am? I'm looking for someone, and was wondering if you could help me for a moment," she asked politely and the nun carefully placed her candles down to look at her, a small smile of her face.

"Of course dear, who is it that you've lost?" she asked as she walked towards her.

"My nephew, his name's Myrrha. His brother told me he was friends with a boy who lives here," she explained, and the nun nodded. Crystala felt a small wave of relief at the recognition in the old woman's face even before she started talking.

"Oh yes, you mean the silver haired boy. Cooro's always calling him Husky, but I'd thought that was just a nickname. He's not here right now, but Cooro had said he was going to meet a few friends at the park, so it'd probably be your best idea to check there first," she said. Crystala nodded appreciatively, knowing that it was definitely the right boy with that description.

"Thank you ma'am, I should go check there right away," she said, but as she turned to leave the woman stopped her for a moment.

"Before you go, how is he? I've been worried, Cooro hasn't told me much since he left," she asked, and Crystala quickly turned around, rather confused by what she could have meant.

"Left, what do you mean?" she asked, trying to sound simply curious and not worried. There was no need to add any worries to an old woman she barely knew. The nun simply nodded her head though, slowly taking a seat in one of the wooden pews before she explained.

"Yes, he'd stayed here for about a month, but left when his step mother had passed, the poor boy. He'd shown up unconscious in the middle of the night and was so shaken up I didn't know what could of happened. I knew I should have called his parents, but I just wanted him to rest, and the next day his brother had shown up, and told me he'd explain everything to them. How's he doing now?" she explained what had happened, and Crystala just barely managed to keep the shock and worry off her face. Smiling slightly, she tried to answer her question.

"I'm afraid I've just gotten into town for the funeral, so I'm not sure how he's been doing recently, but when I did see him he didn't appear too bad. Thank you so much for taking care of him during that time," she said, and the nun simply waved her away, a small smile still plastered on her wrinkled face.

"Any time, he's a very polite boy," she said, and Crystala simply nodded before finally excusing herself again. Leaving the old church for real, she quickly started in the direction she assumed the park to be in, sincerely hoping she was able to find him there like the nun had suggested she would.

She still couldn't believe her brother hadn't told her that Myrrha had ran away from home for a month! When she asked if he had any idea why he might have ran off, she would of definitely counted that and whatever had triggered it in a list of possible reasons. She didn't care about how shaky her relationship with her brother was, she truly did care about those boys. Speeding up her pace, she looked completely calm to those she passed, but on the inside, she was absolutely seething.

When she finally reached the park, she could barely believe how much time had passed since she first started chasing him, but felt relief rush over her none the less when she caught sight of the boy seated at one of the old picnic tables with a few other children.

"Myrrha!" she called once she was close enough for him to hear her, and saw his friends quickly turn in his direction, confusion clear on their faces.

"You know this lady?" a black haired boy sitting next to him asked, and Myrrha nodded just slightly, having already turned back around towards the table and staring down at it.

"She's my aunt," he mumbled, and Crystala wouldn't of been able to have heard it if she hadn't finally reached him, feeling mild annoyance at the high heeled shoes she'd chosen to wear causing her to go at a slightly slower pace than normal.

"Myrrha," she started again, managing to catch his attention despite the fact that he didn't turn around. "We need to go now, I know you're upset, but we need to get back to the funeral, we can talk about everything afterwards," she said, a calm tone to her voice. Husky didn't turn around though, just continuing to carve away at the table with his stick that was now less than half it's original size.

"No," he mumbled, causing his aunt to sigh softly, but not about to just give up at all.

"Myrrha," she said sternly for the second time, but the silver boy quickly turned around from his spot at the picnic table and cut her off before she was able to say anything else.

"I said no, I'll come home later when it's over," he said, causing his aunt to sigh very softly, just the slightest hint of irritation seeping onto her face. The other three children sat unmoved on the picnic benches, none of them quite sure on what they should be doing, if anything at that point.

"It's her funeral," she tried once more, but that fact didn't seem to make the silver boy budge any.

"I know," he said blankly.

"I understand that you didn't get along with her, but you should still go for Keane and your father. Even if you and Keane fight," she said, actually managing to get the silver boy to turn towards her this time. From the look on his face though, it didn't seem as if he was any closer to leaving though.

"Keane and I get along fine now, he'd understand anyway," Husky insisted. Crystala blinked a few times before nodding. So they did get along now. Well, at least that was one good thing she managed to find out today.

"What would he understand?" she asked, remembering how the redhead had said almost the same thing when she'd spoke to him on the phone. Apparently he'd also known that Myrrha had been staying at a church for so long, and either didn't tell his parents, or did and they hadn't done anything about it. She sincerely hoped it was the first one.

"It's not important, you should go back to the funeral before it's over," Husky said. He really didn't want to be talking about this, especially in front of the others. Crystala didn't seem to be about to let up, though.

"Then you're coming with me," she said, but Husky just shook his head again.

"Can we talk about this later?" he asked and the blonde woman just shook her head sternly. Normally she would try to listen to what was wrong with him, and he could tell she still kind of was, but right now it was most important to her that they get back before it ended, although Husky was really starting to doubt that they'd be able to, even if they left now. "I'm not going back," he said, trying to just end it.

"Myrrha, I'm just trying to help, tell me why you're upset," Crystala said and to her surprise Husky was standing now.

"I'm not upset!" he yelled, completely contradicting his statement.

"Husky," Cooro said quietly, speaking for all three of them in the worry they were feeling. They didn't know what happened at the funeral to set him off, but they'd all seen the boy crumble before, and frankly didn't want to again.

"Stay out of this Cooro," he commanded, effectively quieting the black haired boy almost instantly. "I'm not going back there, it's probably over by now anyway," he said to his aunt, trying his best to stare her down. It wasn't nearly as effective as it'd been on his friends though, the woman's will quite a bit stronger. Husky guessed that there was a bit of a defiance streak in his family, if he thought about it.

"Myrrha," she started again, but before she could get another word out the silver boy cut her off.

"What?" he nearly growled. He wasn't sure why, but the more people called him that, the more it was annoying him. He was probably just being irrational, but it was starting to really tick him off.

"I heard about how you were staying at the church, what happened?" the tall woman asked, a gentle tone to her voice. It didn't keep Husky's eyes from growing the size of dinner plates though. No no no, he didn't want to talk about this right now. Not to his aunt, and not in front of the others.

"N-nothing," he said, mentally cursing himself for sounding so shaky and uncertain and scared.

"I know it's not nothing, the nun at the church said you stayed there for a month, and when you got there you were-" Crystala said, the genuine concern she was feeling for her nephew showing in his voice. She really did wish she had come by more often, she would have noticed something was wrong, even if her brother hadn't. She wasn't able to finish her sentence though, Husky shaking his head almost frantically, his eyes closed.

"No, _nothing_ happened," he said again, trying to keep both his voice and breathing calm. Today was not a good day to talk about this at all. He already had so many other emotions piling up inside him he had to deal with. They were just suppose to figure out how they could help Nana, that's all he wanted to do right now. Focus on that, not this. "It was nothing…" he mumbled, despite the fact that everyone around knew how much of a lie that was.

"Myrrha please, let's just go home," Crystala said, knowing that if the funeral wasn't over by now, there wasn't anyway to get the visibly distraught boy back there. Husky just shook his head though, eyes closed again.

"No, just… just leave me alone!" he yelled, immediately sprinting off towards the woods before anyone else had the chance to think to try and grab him.

"Myrrha!" his aunt yelled, starting to chase after him once the shock wore off, the three children almost immediately behind her. It didn't take very long for the silver boy to lose them in the cover of the trees, much to their worry. Once he was out of sight they started looking for him at a slower pace, simply not able to keep running blindly like they had before.

"Husky!" Cooro called, stealing a small glance at the woman who was apparently his aunt, then at Nana. Things just kept getting more and more complicated…

"I really appreciate the help, but you children should head back home, I'll be able to find him," the blonde woman said, but they weren't about to do that. Cooro shook his head and smiled up at her, deciding it would be best if he talked for the group. Nana was probably still unstable, and Senri didn't really… talk.

"That's fine, we need to find Husky too," he said, as if it was simply a fact, which to them, it kind of was. Up until now, the only people to be there to look after them was each other, and they weren't going to abandon him just because his aunt said she could handle it. Even if she seemed like a nice lady, there were some things that they just knew they couldn't tell anyone else.

Crystala didn't try to make them leave again after that, as they wondered through the woods calling the silver boy's name. It was a lot bigger than any of them had ever realized it was, except for Senri, who'd already managed to explore most of it, even if he couldn't exactly remember. After a few moments the blonde woman turned towards Cooro again.

"You're the boy who lives at the church, correct?" She asked, and Cooro told her that he was, wondering slightly where she was going with this, or how she'd actually known about that. Or how she'd even known to go to the church in the first place. "Do you know why he was there? I'm just worried about him" Cooro nodded, a more neutral look to his face.

"I know, but I don't think it's my place to tell you. Either Husky or his dad or Keane should, since it's pretty personal," the black haired boy said, sounding more mature than he usually let on he was. She nodded, actually seeming to accept this answer, which surprised the children slightly. Usually adults would make you tell if they were worried about something as severe as someone seriously running away for such an extended amount of time. It didn't seem like she wasn't going to force them because she didn't care, but because she actually seemed to understand what he was trying to say.

"Alright, thank you," she said, and Cooro and Nana just glanced at each other for a moment before returning back to searching for their missing friend. The black haired boy was actually very glad that he didn't have to be the one to tell his aunt. If he did, Husky might get upset with him, since it didn't seem like he wanted her to know. Of course, it didn't seem like Husky really wanted to be thinking about any of that at the moment.

Closing his eyes, Cooro could feel the tug again. The same one that told him they needed to go to the park, the same one that led him to Nana that night. It felt stronger than it had a moment ago, but it was just then that the black haired boy noticed it had still been there even before he'd noticed.

Deciding that there had been enough strange, unexplainable things happening, one more couldn't possibly hurt, and began following to where the pull was carrying him. He didn't do it like he had a set goal in mind though, because he didn't, so no one seemed to notice, which was probably a good thing. He could talk to the other three about it the next time they were alone, when everything had cooled down again.

The more he concentrated on it, the more he realized that it wasn't just one pull, but several. Even when he couldn't see them, he could pinpoint where Senri and Nana were. It was the strangest feeling, but the eleven year old decided not to brood on it, and just let the tug lead him to wherever Husky had hidden himself.

With the way things were heading, he'd accept any help he could to keep tabs on his friends, supernatural or no.

* * *

Hurray, finished it. The more I write, the clearer everything is getting. Also, if anyone was wondering, I did manage to get those pictures up on my deviant art account. Oh yeah and if you want, you can still vote for how you'd want Fly to be introduced (I'm just full of announcements and promotions today, aren't I?)

Well, I hope you liked this, and please review.


	37. Chapter 36

Hello everybody. Just got back from a super awesome school trip to New York, and has gotten around to updating. If you get the chance to, everyone needs to see the Broadway play War Horse. I was crying so much, but it's just. So. Good.

Well on a more related topic, this chapter is one of my favorites so far. Heh, that's probably not a good thing, coming from me, but you'll all just have to read and find out, I guess.

Chapter 36

Husky ran through the forest, not thinking or caring about where he was going to go, just away. When he finally stopped he was panting and lost but that didn't matter, since he didn't want anyone to find him anyway.

Wiping at his eyes, the silver boy grimaced. He _wasn't_ crying, damn it. It was… he was just… it was the running or something. Sitting down, he vaguely took notice of some sort of pond he was by. He really didn't know where he was now, but it didn't matter. Pulling his legs up to his chest, he stared at the lake and tried to ignore the occasional water droplets that managed to make their way past his eyes.

"Urg… what's _wrong_ with me?" he mumbled to the open air, for the life of him not knowing why he was this upset. Okay, he did know, but he didn't know why he cared so much. What his dad thought had _never _mattered before, only his mother… and now she was gone. It'd been so dang long since he'd thought about that, and he really didn't want to right now. He wasn't the only person who's life was getting screwed up, and none of the others were taking it this bad.

Tracing the markings again, he frowned ever more than he already was. That was the center of it all, but they still had no idea what it even was. Glancing back at the water, he brought his hand back down. He'd never actually swam before…

Slipping off his black jacket and hiding it in a tree, he didn't want anyone to know he was here if they came by, he walked back over to the water. He had no idea what he was doing, or even why, but his brain was just feeling too muddled right now to think straight. Taking a deep breath, he decided to just get it over with and jumped in. He could feel his body transforming by his will, and it felt so strange.

For the first few seconds underwater, he couldn't help but panic, holding his breath and absolutely refusing to let go. When he finally couldn't stand it anymore, he released the air, and the panic slowly stopped as nothing happened. He wasn't… dieing… Blinking, he just kind of looked around, not sure what he was suppose to do now that he was actually in the water.

Slowly, he just allowed himself to sink to the bottom, watching a few small fish swim away from him in the slight murk of the water. The whole situations and sensation was strange and confusing, but it didn't really feel bad. Not to mention, no one would be able to find him at the bottom of a pond. He could stay here for as long as he liked.

You also couldn't cry underwater.

After a few minutes of following the pull, the others vaguely wandering along with him as he went, Cooro reached what look like a relatively small clearing, mostly just surrounding a little pond. Frowning slightly, he walked over to the water. That's where the tug was leading him, but why would Husky be in the water? He was afraid of it…

Glancing back to make sure that no one was watching him, Cooro leaned over to get a better look inside the water, at first he didn't see anything, but almost out of nowhere a set of clear blue eyes were staring up at him from the bottom.

Husky nearly had a heart attack. When he noticed a shadow fall over him, he did not expect to see _Cooro_ staring down at him from above the water. How did he always manage to find them, no matter what? Completely unsure for what to do, he just sort of waved awkwardly, and with a smile the black haired boy was gone. Weird.

"Hey, I think I'm gonna stay here for a while. I'll meet you back at the church Nana," Cooro said, catching their attention almost immediately.

"But what about Husky?" the brunette asked, and Cooro just shrugged. He didn't want to have her worry, but it'd be really bad if his aunt saw him the way he was now. It'd be okay, he'd explain everything after he managed to calm him down a bit.

"I just have a feeling he's gonna be okay. Don't worry, you can keep looking with Ms. Crystala if you want though," the eleven year old said, and reluctantly Nana nodded. After all, Cooro was usually right about these things. "I'll meet you back at the church," he repeated, making sure Nana understood. No matter what she said, he didn't want to worry about her trying to go home today.

"Alright," she said after a moment, and it wasn't long before Cooro couldn't hear their calls for the silver boy, and felt the presence of his other two friends a safe distance away. Walking back over to the lake, he saw Husky still looking up towards him, a confused expression on his face. Smiling, Cooro waved him up.

Hesitantly, Husky resurfaced. He still had absolutely no clue what the older boy's plan was, but decided to just trust him, barely keeping his head above water as he looked around. Thankfully Cooro was alone, but he didn't think that he'd of let his aunt see him like this anyway. He understood what could happen if anyone ever found out.

"Hey…" the silver boy said hesitantly, wringing a hand through his soaked hair. "How'd you findme?" he asked, almost feeling like a kid after their perfect hide-n-seek spot was discovered. Cooro just shrugged though, sitting down at the edge of the pond.

"Woman's intuition?" he suggested jokingly, only to completely confuse Husky.

"You're a boy…" he said flatly, and Cooro laughed. The boy in the water guessed he was trying to make him feel better, but he wasn't entirely sure if it was working or not. Well, at least he was trying.

"I was kidding, not sure how though really, I think it might have to do with our um… things," Cooro said, and Husky raised an eyebrow at him slightly.

"What, you mean like, you can sense the animal powers and track us down?" he asked, sounding more than a bit skeptical, but Cooro just nodded.

"I think so, not really sure yet though, we should try it out sometime," he suggested. Husky just shrugged, figuring that this wasn't the weirdest thing that's happened to him yet, so he shouldn't even bother to try and be surprised. Frowning slightly, Cooro started picking at the grass, wondering if he should really say what he wanted to. He didn't want to upset him but he just… he shouldn't be trying to do all of this on his own.

"Hey Husky?" the black haired boy asked, picking out a few more blades of grass.

"Yeah," he answered, not really paying too much attention, wondering if he should get out of the water and talk to Cooro like that instead.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, quickly getting his attention, and he nodded almost instinctively.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it," he said, expecting that to just be it. Cooro never went against what someone else says after all, so when he did actually try and press the subject, Husky was quite a bit surprised.

"But back with your aunt… you didn't look fine at all," he said, and Husky just shook his head.

"I said I'm okay. Just let it be," he commanded.

"But-" he tried again, although he wasn't able to get any other words in before the silver boy cut him off, sounding a bit impatient at this point. Cooro didn't want to make him mad though, he didn't want to make anyone mad, he just wanted to help him.

"Cooro, I can handle it on my own, it doesn't have anything to do with you or our powers, so stop it," he said, but Cooro just shook his head, causing Husky's frown to deepen. He just can't have all of them messing around in his life and trying to help with his problems when they already had so many of their own. It was his life, he could figure it out, but the black haired boy didn't seem to understand that.

"But you shouldn't have to," he tried.

"I _want_ to."

"But-" Husky once again cut him off before he was able to finish whatever it was he'd try to say.

"Since when did you actually grow a backbone? I _don't_ want you guys messing in my problems, and I _don't_ want to talk to you about this anymore," he snapped. After a few seconds of silence, Cooro answered softly.

"That's what friends are suppose to do though…" he mumbled, and Husky just turned away from him, swerving himself around in the water.

"Then I don't _want _any friends!" he yelled, still facing away. Cooro just stared at him sadly.

"You really don't want to be our friend anymore?" he asked, and Husky nodded without looking back. Sighing softly, the black haired boy stood up, letting his wings unfurl behind him. It was almost dark out, and a weekday, not too many people would be out.

Husky heard the older boy stand up, and was tempted to turn back around, but didn't. Cooro just didn't understand. He couldn't have them all worrying about him. They already had so many other problems, and they had to focus on helping Nana and Senri first, then figure out the truth about these powers and those dreams. _After_ all of that, then maybe they could try and deal with his screwed up wreck of a life, but he couldn't let that be their priority.

The silver boy was brought out of his thoughts as a small gust of wind hit him across the back, but before he could even turn around to see what it was, Cooro managed to shock him frozen with just a few words.

"Goodbye Myrrha, sorry to bother you for so long," he mumbled, effectively leaving Husky stuck in the lake. When he finally did manage to turn around, the black winged boy was too high in the sky for anything he could scream to hear, just a few feathers left floating along the small breeze.

Once he was out of sight and most of the shock had worn off, Husky slammed his hand against the water, sending a huge spray up, not that he actually cared by that point. "Damn it!" he yelled, before running his hand down his face, leaning against the edge of the lake. He was completely at a loss for what to do, one question ringing through his head.

"What's _wrong_ with me?"

Cooro flew as high as he would allow himself, so that he had less of a chance to be seen. It really did feel great to finally be able to use his wings after all this time, but he didn't feel happy at all. It wasn't long before he could see the church underneath him, and Nana standing out front. Carefully landing on the roof, he drew in his wings before climbing in his window and walking back out the front door.

"Hey Nana," he said, trying to sound casual as the brunette jumped in the air and spun around to face him.

"Cooro! What the? How'd you get inside?" she asked, looking at his as if he'd just teleported out of thin air.

"I flew," he said casually, although that didn't stop her from looking surprised any.

"You flew?" She asked, and Cooro just nodded. Staring at him for a moment, she just sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Okay, just be careful that no one sees you. Also, we weren't able to find Husky. I know you said you think he'd be okay, but I'm worried," she said, and Cooro just shrugged, going to sit down on the church steps.

"I know, but it's true. Myrrha's fine, I just saw him," he said, only managing to keep his voice neutral, not happy. Nana just raised her eyebrow, looking him over like he'd grown a second head.

"What did you say?" she asked, and Cooro just gave her a look of mild confusion.

"I saw him, he was in the lake I left you guys at, but I couldn't have his aunt see him," he explained, but Nana was just shaking her head, the confusion she felt just increasing as she looked the black haired boy over. There was something off about him. Something bad had happened.

"No, no, not that. What did you call him?" she asked again.

"Myrrha? Well, it's his name, isn't it?" he said, and Nana was just nodding furiously.

"Since when do you call him that though? You _always_ call him Husky. I didn't even know that wasn't his name until I met Keane because that's all you ever call him," she said, and Cooro just shrugged again, running his finger along the edge of the stone step. "What happened?" She asked, and now he wasn't looking her in the eyes.

"Hus- Myrrha said he didn't want to be our friend anymore, so I left," he explained, although Nana just continued to stare at him, completely dumbfounded.

"You left?" she asked, and Cooro simply nodded. "You actually believed he was telling the truth when he said he didn't want to be friends anymore?" the black haired boy hesitated slightly, before finally nodding a second time.

"Why would he lie?" he asked, and Nana just threw her hands up in the air.

"Because he's Husky! He wouldn't admit needing some help if he was waist deep in quicksand!" she insisted, but Cooro wasn't too sure if that was true. Sighing, she sat down next to him on the steps. "Look, Husky's just being stupid, let's go back and find him. I promise I can make him admit he was lying," Nana said. Cooro looked up uncertainly from the sidewalk.

"You really don't think he meant it?" he asked. He couldn't believe how selfish he was being. Nana was the one who just got her bat wings less then a few days ago, and here _she _was comforting _him._ No wonder Husky didn't want to be his friend anymore.

"Of course he didn't mean it. How long have you guys been friends now?" she asked.

"Only a few months, it hasn't actually been as long as it feels," the black haired boy said, but Nana just nodded, which confused him slightly. Only a few months of friendship didn't seem quite as strong as if he'd said years or something like that, but she was acting almost like he had.

"And how long does it feel like you've know him?" she asked, and Cooro shrugged a bit.

"Forever… it's like that for all of you," he mumbled.

"Right!" the brunette said, standing up off the steps and turning back towards him. "we've only known each other a few months, but it feels like we have our entire lives. Plus we all, I mean, we all have these powers… There's no way everything we've been through happen and Husky can just decide he doesn't feel like hanging around with us anymore," she said, and hesitantly Cooro nodded. She did have a point, he just hoped Husky would listen to her.

"Now c'mon, it's getting late, let's go before Husky leaves the park," the brunette said, and Cooro followed behind her, not too sure about going back. He didn't want to just have Husky to tell him to go away again. It already hurt enough the first time.

Husky slowly sunk to the bottom of the lake again, not sure what to do at all. He'd just screwed up. Again. Why was he so bad at everything? Running a hand through his hair, he looked up towards the surface. The sky was getting darker, it'd be night before he knew it. He didn't want to go back home though. He didn't even want to leave the water.

Brushing his hand along the pond bed, he slowly laid down. It was strange, lying underneath the water. There was a certain weightlessness that wouldn't really let him feel like he was solidly on the bottom, but it was better than nothing. He just wanted to rest for a little while. Everyone back home would be mad and worried, but he didn't care. He felt bad enough as it was, he didn't need to add them yelling at him on top of it all.

It wasn't long before the child managed to fall asleep at the bottom of the pond. Never in all his life would he have imagined he could be that comfortable in water, especially after what had happened, but he figured he might just be even more worn out than anxious at this point.

The silver boy slammed the door behind him, breath coming in short gasps by this point. He had no idea what was going on, just a few words sticking out to him, and none of them made him any less panicked.

Fire. Danger. Escape.

Spinning to his left, he didn't even feel like he was in control of his body, as he came to face Senri. It was Senri with the bear arm though, not normal Senri.

"What are we gonna do? We have to find them!" he yelled, not understanding the words that came out of his mouth. Senri just nodded, starting to move towards one of the windows while Husky tried to keep himself from coughing. The smoke was getting worse.

He felt his heart stop when someone grabbed him from behind, locking him in their grip and causing him to lose hold on a staff he'd only just noticed once it flew out of his fingertips.

"Senr-!" he yelled, unable to finish when whoever it was placed their hand over his mouth. It was enough to get the teen's attention though, and he would have attacked, if the person hadn't pressed some sort of blade against the silver boy's neck. Oh god. Oh god. He was going to die.

More men came into the room, and they all had weapons. He kept trying to scream, although he didn't know for the life of him what he was trying to say.

"Put away your anima, or we kill the boy!" one of the men yelled, and Husky just started to fight harder, although he had no idea what that meant. Anima? What…? Somehow, he'd managed to free at least his mouth so that he could speak again.

"Don't do it! Senri they'll kill you! Don't you dare-" he yelled, only to be muffled again. The grey haired teen just looked at him sadly, before allowing his arm to shift back into a normal, human arm. Husky just started fighting against his restraints more, almost forgetting about the blade barely centimeters away from his neck. He had no idea what was going on and he couldn't control his body, but if he did, he'd probably be thrashing just as hard.

He managed to get his mouth free again, but it was too late, as one of the men, Husky only just now realizing that he couldn't even see their faces, started to attack the now defenseless grey haired teen.

"Stop it! Senri, _fight! _Don't di-" he wasn't able to finish his sentence, muffled for a third time. Before he saw anything, he managed to close his eyes as tight as he could, very thankful for at least that.

When he opened them again, he was back underwater, and his heart felt like it was going a mile a minute. Breathing deeply, not even caring that he could do it without any air, he tried to calm himself down. It was only a dream, only a dream. Holy crap, what _was_ that?

It wasn't real, it wasn't real. That's what it was. Just calm down. Hold your breath and count backwards from ten. Releasing the air into the water, he closed his eyes. Somehow, that trick always managed to work.

Even if he was still terrified and wanted nothing more than someone else besides himself to tell him it was going to be alright, and it wasn't real, but he didn't have anyone else right now. The trick still managed to work though, he thought, pulling a hand down his face slowly.

He couldn't help but wonder if it was worth it though. He was breathing slightly more evenly than before, but alongside the terrifying nightmare, now he couldn't stop thinking of Cooro and Keane… and his mother.

No, he didn't know if it was worth it, not at all.

* * *

And the dreams are back in action! Also, subtle (or not so subtle) parallels to the actual series, woo. I just can't stop tormenting them, can I? Right after a fight with his best friend, Husky goes and has that for a dream. I actually didn't want to really end the chapter there, but if I included the next scene, it'd just be way too long.

Well, I hope you like this chapter, and please review.


	38. Chapter 37

Hurray, new chapter, and I can get to the part from the last chapter I had to push back, hurray. Early too.

Chapter 37

"Are you sure about this?" Cooro asked once they reached the park. "I mean, we haven't even had any chances to solve your problems, all this other stuff keeps coming up," he said. It was true, everything just seemed to be happening at once, and it just wasn't possible to keep it all sorted nicely, but Nana simply nodded. It reminded him of how Husky would switch between his different problems to keep himself sane. They really were more similar than either would ever admit.

It wasn't long before they were back at the small pond, Nana looking around for any sign of the silver boy. Truthfully, Cooro would have thought he'd probably already left, if the tugging wasn't telling him otherwise.

"You're sure he's here?" she asked, starting to walk over towards the pond. Cooro just nodded, deciding to keep a little bit of distance.

"Yeah, he's still in the water." Nana didn't ask how he'd known that, and he reminded himself that he'd have to explain the pulling to her soon, but not now; after they found out if Husky was lying or not. Usually the black haired boy hoped that people weren't lying to him, but he sincerely wished that it wasn't the case this time.

Glancing into the water, it took her a few moments before she caught any sight of the silver fish boy lying on the bottom of the lake, and even then it wasn't any more than just a glimmer of his hair and scales. Picking up a nearby rock, she tossed it into the water towards him, hoping to catch his attention. She doubted he would have heard her under the water if she tried to yell after all.

Luckily it did the trick, Husky looking up confused, before finally spotting her and swimming up to the surface. It was so strange, seeing him use his powers so comfortably… and Cooro had said he'd flown back…

"What are you doing here?" he asked, barely letting himself come above the water's surface, as if he was trying to hide. It was getting dark combined with this, so it was rather difficult to see his face, but Nana was sure that his eyes were bloodshot. Sure, it might be because he'd been in the water for so long, but she was almost positive it was something else.

"Tell Cooro you were lying," the brunette demanded. It was only when she mentioned him that Husky realized the black haired boy was there. He tried not to feel relieved at the sight of the two of them, although it was hard. That… nightmare was still on his mind, and even though they weren't in it, he couldn't help but be glad that they were alive. It didn't make any sense… it wasn't real, but then again, Cooro and Nana had both had similar dreams… Why weren't they there anyway? In his dream, he meant. He'd told Senri they needed to find them… Well actually, he never said who they needed to find, but that didn't shake his feeling in the least that it was Cooro and Nana.

"Lying about what?" he asked, trying to ground himself in the real world again. Though he'd never admit it, it was a little intimidating having to look up to Nana from down in the water.

"About not wanting to be his friend anymore," she answered.

"I wasn't…" he mumbled, not looking either of them in the eyes. Maybe it was a mistake but… they'd probably all be better off if they didn't have to deal with him. Sure, they all had problems, but he didn't want to force his onto them, and if they were going to try and take care of him, then he wasn't going to let them.

"What?" Nana asked, not entirely sure if she'd heard him right.

"I said I wasn't lying, I don't want to be friends anymore, with any of you," he repeated, surprised at how hard it was to get those words out. He could see Cooro standing by the edge of the clearing, practically deflating at those words, but he tried his best to just ignore him and the guilt he felt. It'd be fine, they'd all be better off without him.

"Get out of the water," the brunette girl demanded. It was just, she couldn't concentrate when he was like that, every glimmer of his scales and tail distracting her, and those gills… She couldn't think about that when she was trying to yell at him.

"Huh?" he asked, surprised by the sudden switch in topics.

"I said get out of the water, it's hard to yell at you when you're so low to the ground," she said, and Husky just rolled his eyes, but pulled himself out of the pond none the less. Quickly he changed his legs back to normal and stood up, still not used to the feeling of the transformation. He'd only done it a few times after all, even if he'd had these powers for quite a while now.

"Now what?" He asked, trying his best to sound annoyed.

"You know it's not true, so stop being such a jerk," Nana demanded again, but Husky wasn't going to listen, even if he kind of wanted to.

"If I say it's true then it's true. Just leave me alone," he said, but before he was even able to finish his sentence Nana was shaking her head. Urg, why did she have to be right all the time?

"After everything that's happened, you think you just say 'forget it' and abandon us?" she asked, and Husky nodded.

"That's exactly what I think," he said. It wasn't that he wanted to abandon them, not at all, but it'd be better if he did. They wouldn't have to deal with his problems anymore, and could just focus on taking care of themselves. Every word he said just seemed to be getting Nana even angrier though.

"Well it doesn't work that way! We're in this together whether you like it or not."

"I don't want to be 'in this' with anybody! We don't even know what 'this' is! I'll deal with it on my own and there isn't anything you can say to make me change my mind!" he yelled, starting to walk away from the two. It was for their own good. It was for his own good. He couldn't get too attached. If he did… and something happened to them… then… No, it was better to just end it now, while he still could.

"Why Husky, huh? Why in the world have you decided now that you want to be all alone? We just want to help, so why won't you let us!" she yelled, and the silver boy spun around on his heels to face her again. He didn't even feel like himself, and the words came out of his mouth before he could even think.

"Because I don't want to lose you again!" he yelled, before almost immediately snapping his mouth shut. What did he just say? It didn't make any sense. He'd never lost them to begin with, so what… Cooro and Nana were just staring at him, both looking equally confused as he was sure he did.

"Again? What do you mean, again?" Nana asked, and Husky just shook his head. Cooro actually managed to get up the courage to take a few steps closer, not sure if it was from curiosity or concern. Probably a mixture of both by this point.

"I-I don't know! It just came out before I could think…" he mumbled, wishing he hadn't said that and now probably looked like an idiot. Cooro took a few more steps forward, a small smile on his face, although he still looked a bit confused.

"Wouldn't not being our friend anymore count as losing us?" he asked, the first thing he'd said since they'd started talking to the silver boy. Husky just shrugged, looking down and kicking halfheartedly at the ground. This is why he didn't want to be friends with them, they were too perceptive… and nice.

"I guess…" he said quietly, not daring to look up at either of them. They probably looked all smug and happy, knowing they'd won.

"Then stop moping around and acting like an idiot and say you didn't mean it," Nana said, sounding a lot happier than Husky was grateful for.

"Fine… I didn't…whatever…" he grumbled, glancing up at them just slightly. The sun was completely behind the horizon now, and he could barely see them in the darkness. Which meant they could barely see him. He couldn't help but feel a little bit grateful for that, knowing that his face was probably much redder than he would of ever wanted. He could see that Cooro had managed to walk all the way up and was besides Nana now.

"Good, so were all friends again?" Nana asked, and reluctantly the silver boy nodded. It'd be better for them if he'd just left them alone but… he really didn't want to.

"Yay!" Cooro said happily, and Husky just rolled his eyes, trying to act like his normal, non caring self. He was happy that Cooro was happy though. Suddenly a thought occurred to him, and he turned towards the black haired boy.

"Oh, Cooro?" Husky asked, and he nodded. "Don't ever call me Myrrha again, got it?" he demanded, and the older boy just nodded yet again, his smile back full force now. He didn't know why it had felt so wrong when he'd called him that, but it just was. His family could call him Myrrha, but not his friends. It just wasn't right.

"Well, we should all probably be getting back, especially you Husky, you're aunt was really worried when we couldn't find you. She even said that she was gonna call the police if you didn't show up by morning," Nana said, and Husky grimaced. He knew he was going to get in trouble, but she was right when she said that he had to. Aunt Crystala wasn't his dad, she wouldn't not notice if he just went missing for a month. Before he was able to agree though, Cooro spoke up.

"Hey Husky, do you get an accent when you're upset?" he asked, completely confusing the other two children. The silver boy just stared at him for a moment as the question sank in.

"What? No, I don't get an accent. Why?" he asked, having no clue what he could of possibly meant by that. Cooro just shrugged though, not appearing to think his question was strange at all.

"Because just now, when you said you didn't want to lose us again, you spoke funny, it sounded like an accent slipping," he explained. Husky just stared at him, still confused beyond belief, but after a few seconds, Nana nodded as well.

"You're right! He did say it all weird!" she said happily, causing Husky's face to contort into a frown.

"I don't speak weird! And I don't get any kind of accent when I'm upset either," he insisted, although couldn't help but let a bit of his curiosity get the better of him. "What did it sound like?" he asked.

"Kinda middle eastern," Cooro said, and Nana nodded.

"Or Russian," she added. Husky just raised an eyebrow slightly.

"My dad has an accent like that, but I never talk to him, and I lived with my mom until a little while ago, so I don't," he said. The two just stared at him, and he smirked slightly. "What, I don't look Turkmenistanian?" he asked, which only seemed to confuse the two even more.

"Don't look what?" Nana asked.

"Turkmenistan. It's a country in the middle east, where my dad's from," he explained. The brunette just raised her eyebrow though, a skeptical look spreading across her face. It didn't really surprise Husky though. The few people he'd talked to before he moved never really believed him all that much either.

"There's no way you're middle eastern," she said. "You're too…"

"Pale, and your hair's all silvery," Cooro finished for her, and Husky just rolled his eyes, ignoring the mumbled 'who has natural silver hair… unless you're graying…'

"I take after my mom, she wasn't," he said, and the two nodded, seeming to believe that. "And I am not graying!" he quickly added as an afterthought. Cooro noticed that this was the second time he'd mentioned his mother, even though he'd never really done it before now. It was strange, but he guessed it was nice. Nana started to look confused again though, as another thought occurred to her.

"But Keane's really pale too, and has red hair," she said.

"He takes after Dylana, people have two parents you know, and my dad is only half to begin with" he said, and Nana said a small oh. "Anyway," Husky said after a few moments. "I don't have any kind of accent, so I don't know why you would of heard one then." Cooro just shrugged.

"Well, that's what it sounded like," he said.

"I donno then, but I guess it's not the weirdest thing to happen to us," he conceded, and the other two nodded. He was about to suggest that they should all head home now, when a thought came to him. Oh yeah… He'd have to tell them soon, and he wouldn't mind putting off having to go back just a little longer. Sure, the more he waited, the worse whatever punishment he'd get would be, but at the moment he didn't care.

"Uh, guys?" he said, a bit quieter than before.

"Yeah, something wrong?" Nana asked, but Husky just shook his head. He guessed there wasn't anything wrong, at least, not really. It was just a dream.

"No, but um, before you guys showed up I kind of… had another dream," he said, mumbling the last part slightly. They instantly seemed to understand what he meant though, and even though it was pitch black out now, none of them were even thinking of leaving.

"Was it like the other ones you had?" Cooro asked, and Husky nodded, before shaking his head.

"Yes, no, I mean, it felt the same as them, but it wasn't the same subjects… I think, I mean, it was kind of like the ones you guys had… with the fire," he said, stumbling over his words slightly. Cooro just nodded, although Nana was already looking spooked. It probably wasn't too good of an idea bringing this up so soon after she got her bat powers, but there wasn't any helping it now.

"Were we in it?" she asked, and Husky shook his head again.

"No, but Senri was. I think we were trying to find you," he explained, and Cooro nodded yet again. Sighing slightly, he decided to go on. "We were being chanced in some building, but then I got caught," he hesitated slightly, not sure if he wanted to go on with the next part, but decided it'd be best if he did. "They told Senri to put away his bear arm, and he did… even though they were going to kill him… then I woke up," he finished. "But… they're just dreams, right?" he asked, sounding as uncertain as he felt.

"I don't know, but I don't think it's going to happen… they don't really seem like us, you know?" Cooro said, and Husky couldn't help but nod. There was just something off about all of them, but he couldn't put his finger on what.

"I wonder if Senri has them too," Nana said, and the other two nodded.

"Even if he did, I don't think he'd remember if we ask him," Cooro said quietly, and Husky agreed. He kind of wished the older boy was here now, actually. He knew it was stupid, but he wanted to be able to see him, and know he was okay. It still amazed him, even if it was a dream, that he'd done that. He had to of known he'd be killed, he told him it was going to happen, but he stopped anyway…

"There was something else," he said, quickly catching the other's attention once again. "In my dream, they were called… animas or something. Our powers, I mean," Husky said, not sure why he'd mentioned that. It couldn't be the real name, but it was better than what they'd been calling them before, he guess.

"Anima?" Nana asked, and the silver boy nodded.

"Yeah, the people told Senri to put away his anima, and he turned his arm back to normal… it's probably not the real name, if they even have one, but…" he said, trailing off once he noticed Cooro shaking his head.

"I think that's a good name for them. It's better than 'weird animal power thingies' at any rate," the black haired boy said happily, and Nana nodded her head in agreement. Well, at least they hadn't said it was stupid.

"Okay, well, I guess we should all be headed back soon, it's really dark… and cold…" he said, adding the last part as a gust of wind blew itself through the trees. He'd mostly been ignoring it, he was still soaked from the water, and that was not helping the late fall weather at all.

"Ah Husky! You're all wet!" Nana nearly yelled, just now noticing. The silver haired boy rolled his eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, I know. Do either of you know how to get out of here?" He asked, and they quickly led him out of the woods and back to the main park. He really didn't want to go back home, but he'd get in even more trouble, and possibly have the police called, if he didn't soon. Outside the park gate, the three turned towards each other.

"You're coming back to the church, right Nana?" Cooro asked, and the brunette looked rather hesitant. "Please?" the black haired boy pleaded, and she gave in.

"Fine, but only one more night, I promise I'll be fine," she insisted, and the other two nodded, although they still weren't very keen on her going back so soon. They would probably feel better, although it could possibly be worse, if they knew what had happened, but they couldn't just ask about something like that.

"Alright," Cooro said, before turning towards Husky. "Good luck," he said, and the silver boy laughed bitterly.

"Thanks, I'll need it," he mumbled. Keane was probably even more of a wreck than he had been lately, and his dad and Crystala pissed. Yeah, he was not looking forward to whatever waited for him back there one bit.

"Um…" Cooro mumbled quietly before Husky got the chance to go. He'd just gotten him back as a friend after trying to pry, which was so unlike him, but he was just so worried. He was still worried, but he didn't want to risk something like that happening again. Sure, he seemed fine now, but he didn't want to set anything off.

"Something wrong?" the silver boy asked, and Cooro quickly shook his head, but decided to ask anyway.

"No… I was just wondering. You don't have to say if you don't want to, since I really don't want to fight again and it's really none of my business anyway so I shouldn't even be asking, so if you don't-" Husky's sigh cut him off in the middle of his ramble.

"What happened to that backbone you grew earlier? Whatever it is, just ask me already," the silver boy said, not sounding angry at all, and if the other two could see him in the dim streetlight, he was smirking.

"Oh, okay. I was just wondering… why you ran away from the funeral," Cooro said, and Husky just shrugged, trying to act like it didn't actually bother him to start thinking about that again.

"My dad just pissed me off and stuff, it's nothing," he said, hoping they weren't going to make him elaborate. He already knew he was going to be interrogated like crazy when he got back home. He didn't want to not tell Cooro anything though, especially with what had happened earlier. Maybe it was a bad idea to keep being their friend, but he really didn't think he could convince himself to try and give that all up again.

"Oh well, I hope it all goes well," the black haired boy said, and Husky just nodded. Without much else, he started heading towards his home, the two other children walking in the opposite direction.

Once he reached the outside of his house, he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. He really, really didn't want to go back in there. He was freezing though, and had remembered halfway to his house that he'd left his jacket back at the park, but wasn't about to go back and try and find in this late at night.

Walking up to the front door, he wished he could just turn around and have his mother waiting in the driveway to take him home instead. That wasn't going to happen though, and she never did let him back in the car when he was suppose to be visiting here anyway.

* * *

Yay, friends again ^_^ Had fun writing this chapter, although I guess there is something I should explain, a bit of head canon of mine.  
For some reason, I strictly believe Husky has some sort of accent, since he's not from Asteria. Why'd the others never mention it? They didn't want to sound rude, they just think he talks funny. Anyway, I don't actually know too much about Turkmenistan, but I wanted to make Husky from there anyway.

Also, Cooro's backbone is made of glass, easily broken with words.  
Well, I hope you liked this chapter, and please review.


	39. Chapter 38

Hello, time for a new chapter. I swear, I don't think I've ever had a story just come to me like this before, even though I absolutely need to be doing other things, I don't want to pass up on the inspiration well before it runs dry.

Chapter 38

Slowly, Husky opened the front door and stepped inside, trying to stay as quiet as possible. Closing it behind him, it didn't really seem to matter, seeing as his father walked into the room at that moment anyway.

"Myrrha!" he said, sounding both shocked and angry, not that the silver boy had really expected him to feel any different. At the sound of his name his aunt ran into the room, and he saw Keane start walking down the stairs. They both looked relieved, but it didn't really matter to Husky all that much, really wishing he could just walk right back outside. He hated being the center of attention.

"Um, I'm back," he mumbled, not really sure what to say at all right now. Almost immediately he was hit with a borage of questions, and he really wasn't sure which ones he was suppose to answer first.

"We can see that, where the hell have you been?" his father asked, and this was the first time he'd ever really heard him sound angry with him. Oh wait, there was that one time he'd broken Keane's nose in a fight. He was pretty mad then too, especially since they had to go to the hospital on Christmas.

"You're soaked, what happened?" Crystala asked, and he just shrugged.

"Did you fall into the river again?" He sounded more curious than anything, not upset and worried or angry, like his aunt or father. Husky just shot his head at him, confusion written all over the silver boy's face, even though he knew what he was talking about. He just didn't think the redhead would have actually remembered that.

"Explain this instant," his father said, and Husky just stared at the ground. He really didn't want to have to go through this.

"Can't you just ground me and get it all over with? Who cares where I was?" the silver boy asked, although he knew it was a pretty hopeless cause. Actually, he was almost positive that his question just made it worse.

"No, you're going to tell us exactly what you were doing that was so important that you'd miss your mother's funeral," the blonde man said, and Husky actually saw Keane wince when he said that, but didn't really pay much attention, the anger inside him coming faster than he'd thought possible.

"What did you say? She was not my mother!" he yelled, and from the look on his father's face he'd just realized the mistake he'd made, but Husky wasn't done yet. "Don't you ever call her that again! I went to my mother's funeral, but that was months ago!" he yelled. He knew he was probably going to get upset or angry when trying to explain what happen, but he didn't think it was going to happen this quickly.

"Either way, you still shouldn't have run off, why-" Husky didn't let him finish though, temper already exhausted, and the fact that he was asking why of all things not making it any better in the slightest. He knew Keane was right there, and he knew he shouldn't be so blunt, but he was angry, and when he was angry, he didn't really think things though.

"She tried to kill me and you want to know why I didn't want to go to her funeral! I mean, I know you never actually cared about me, but damn it you could at least pretend!" he yelled, the words coming faster than he could think to try and censor his thoughts. His father just stared at him in shock, and Husky tried to pretend that he wasn't crying for the third time that day.

"Myrrha, that's not…" his father said, but Husky just shook his head, not looking at him at this point.

"You don't care that she almost kill me, you didn't notice when I didn't come home for a month straight, you couldn't even get your mind off work long enough to notice anything was wrong with your family at all. Please don't insult me on top of everything by trying to lie about it now," he said, surprised at how even his voice sounded.

"Myrrha," It was his aunt now. She didn't sound surprised by anything he was saying, even though she hadn't known what had happened last time he'd spoken to her. Either she was better at concealing her emotions than he'd thought, or she'd already gotten the information out of his father. He really didn't care either way at this point, closing his eyes and shaking his head again.

"Just leave me alone, all of you just leave me alone!" he yelled, shoving his way past the two adults and up the stairs, Keane just barely able to get out of his way so that he didn't knock him down. Once he got to his room he slammed the door behind him, making sure to lock it so that no one was able to get in and try to talk to him. He didn't care if he was acting stupid, or childish or any of those things. He was only ten years old, damn it, and he was upset!

"Myrrha! Myrrha open this door!" he could hear his father yelling on the other side, but didn't answer, instead just shoving his head under a pillow, clinging to the blanket Cooro had given him like his life depended on it.

"Get out here! Myrrha!" his father just kept yelling but there wasn't any way that he was actually going to go and talk to him. Everything he'd said was true, even if he'd never wanted to admit it before. He sure was right when he'd told Cooro he'd need that luck. It didn't look like it actually worked though, to say the least.

"No!" he yelled out, the sound slightly muffled by the pillow above his head, although he knew his father still heard him. It took maybe another half an hour before the man finally quit, and Husky couldn't be more grateful when he did. He wasn't going to crack, so all that banging and yelling was worth was giving him a headache.

He had no idea why he was still crying at this point. For years, he could care less about his father never being around, even when he'd first moved here. It didn't, and shouldn't matter to him, so why on earth was he so freakin upset that he hadn't noticed what happened? Or that he didn't care even when he did? It should have been expected, and it was, but he was still a wreck.

When he heard another knock on his door, he thought it was his aunt at first, until Keane's voice called quietly. "Myrrha?" Reluctantly, the silver boy wiped his eyes the best he could and got up and unlocked the door. He didn't want Keane to think any of this was his fault.

"Com'im" he mumbled, sitting back down on his bed and wrapping himself in his blue blanket. He really did wish he was at the church now instead of home. Hesitantly, he saw the door open and Keane step inside. "Lock it," he commanded, and the older boy complied without any argument, thankfully.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, and it wasn't like the time he'd apologized for breaking his nose either, he actually meant it. "I know she was your mom, I just-" he was cut off when Keane just started shaking his head.

"It's fine, I was there when it happened, remember? I'm not mad," he said, and Husky actually felt relieved. He didn't want Keane to be mad at him because of what happened. "Besides," the redhead started up again "everything you said down there was true anyway," he grumbled.

"I'm sure he'd of noticed if it was you," Husky tried to insist, but Keane was just shaking his head again.

"No, it would have been exactly the same," he said, and sadly the younger boy couldn't help but think that was probably true. Well, except for the little fact that Keane probably wouldn't of turned into a mermaid fish anima thing, but he didn't know about that, and Husky wasn't about to explain or bring it up. Instead, he just nodded, wringing his hand in the blanket, then unwinding it, and wringing it up again.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Keane asked after a few moments, and Husky nodded.

"Yeah, I just want to be alone for a little while," he mumbled, and Keane nodded once again before heading out the door to leave.

"Make sure you put on some dry clothes, you're gonna catch a cold if you stay like that," he said before closing the door, and Husky just nodded, getting up and locking it, before listening to what he said and switching into a set of dry pajamas. He'd been so upset he'd actually forgotten that he was soaked to the core.

Once he was back on his bed, the silver boy reached over and grabbed his cell phone off of his side table. He knew it was late, and that he'd just told Keane that he wanted to be alone, but as he dialed the church's phone number, he really didn't care.

He was just really, really glad that he hadn't screwed up big time, and actually ended their friendship, or else he really would be all alone.

Cooro and Nana made their way into the church through the backdoor. Mother Superior was sitting at the table, and Cooro smiled at her when she looked over at them, hoping she wouldn't be mad that they'd been out so late.

"Oh, there you two are, I was worried," she said, and Cooro quickly explained what they were doing, well, some of it at least.

"Sorry, we were helping Ms. Crystala look for Husky, since he ran away again when she came to the park," he explained, figuring that since the blonde woman had known about how Husky had stayed at the church, then she probably heard it from the old woman. He kind of doubted that Keane would have told her all that, after all.

"I see, did you find him?" she asked, and Cooro nodded.

"Yep, he was on his way home when we last left him," the black haired boy said, and Mother Superior nodded. "Oh, it's okay if Nana stays one more night, right?" he asked, and the old nun nodded once more.

"Of course, as long as her parents are alright with it, that is," she said, and before the brunette was able to say anything, Cooro smiled brightly and nodded.

"They said it was fine. C'mon Nana," he said, quickly pulling the girl up to the stairs and his room. Once they were there, Cooro shut the door behind them, and Nana just stared at him, confusion written all over her face.

"Cooro, you know my parents don't know I'm here…" she said, but the black haired boy just nodded as he sat down on his bed.

"I know, but I already said that you're staying here for the night, and I know that she's probably a lot more suspicious now with what happened with Husky and everything," Cooro explained, and Nana nodded hesitantly. She knew it made sense, but there was just something unsettling about seeing Cooro lie so effortlessly.

The two sat in silence for a few moments before Nana sighed, plopping down on his desk chair.

"I hope he's okay," she mumbled, and Cooro just nodded. They were both worried about the silver boy, especially since they really had no idea what his father was actually like. Neither Husky nor Keane talked about him very much at all, and the only thing Cooro really knew was that he didn't seem to pay much attention to either of them. Of course, Husky had said that he'd made him mad at the funeral, and that was why he'd ran away in the first place. He just hoped something like that didn't happened again, he'd end up catching a phenomena if he jumped into any more ponds this late in the year.

Downstairs, Mother Superior heard the phone of the church start to ring and went over to answer it.

Urg, Husky really hated calling people, you never truly know for sure who's going to answer, and he didn't really want to talk to anyone for even a small amount of time. Well, besides Cooro, or maybe Nana. He almost decided to just hang up and wait until morning to talk to the black haired boy, but before he got the chance he heard someone pick up on the other end of the line.

"Good evening, St. John the Baptist's church, how may I help you?" the old nun asked into the phone, and Husky hadn't realized he'd never heard the full name of the church before, and quickly cleared his through, trying to sound like he hadn't just been crying for a half hour.

"Um, hello, is Cooro there?" he asked quietly, surprising himself with how weak and horsed he sounded.

"Yes, who is this?" the nun asked him.

"Husky, do you think I could talk to him for a little?" he hoped she just got him and left, and thankfully she said that he could, and to hold for a moment.

"Cooro!" she called up the stairs, quickly getting the black haired boy's attention.

"Yeah?" he asked back, hoping that whatever it was she wanted didn't have anything to do with Nana or her parents. There wasn't a lot of things he couldn't really answer truthfully when it came to that. It wasn't, but her actual answer still managed to make him worry just as much.

"Your little friend Husky's on the phone," she said, and he quickly shared a worry glance with Nana, before getting up off his bed and heading towards the door.

"Coming!" he yelled as he ran down the stairs, before taking the phone off the table. "thanks," he said quickly before turning his attention to the boy on the other end of the line as the old woman walked into her private room to the side of the church. "Husky? Everything okay?" he asked, trying to sort through all the possible scenarios of what could of happened that were running through his head.

"I don't know. I got into a fight with my dad," the silver boy mumbled, not really sure why he was coming to Cooro about all of this now, when earlier that day he'd been so adamant about not dumping his problems on his friends. Cooro didn't mind at all though, just quickly glancing up when he saw Nana walk down the stairs, the worry and confusion she was feeling very clear.

"He was mad that you ran off?" he asked, and Husky nodded.

"Yeah…" he said.

"He was probably just worried about you," Cooro suggested, trying to make the silver boy feel better, but Husky just shook his head, not about to accept that as an answer at all.

"He's never cared about me," he said flatly, or at least, he tried to, but he sounded a bit too upset to really pull it off right. It was true though, even Keane had said it. He'd never actually cared about either of them, and it was only now that the rest of his life was crumbling to pieces that Husky was starting to care.

"That can't be true," the black haired boy said, putting his hand up when Nana mouthed to him 'what happened?' He'd explain when he got Husky to calm down better.

"You never met him Cooro, how would you know?" the silver boy asked.

"I don't need to, he's your dad," the older boy insisted, but Husky just shook his head, not caring that he couldn't actually see him.

"What's that have to do with anything?"

"Well, aren't parents suppose to care about their kids?" the black haired boy asked, and Husky just rolled his eyes and shrugged.

"I don't know Cooro, you tell me, are they?" he asked back, but there was just silence on the other end of the line, and the silver boy sighed. That might have been a bit too far, there's no reason to take any of this out on Cooro. He was just trying to help, not to mention, he'd been the one to call him in the first place. "Sorry, I'm just…" he mumbled, trailing off slightly.

"Upset?" the older boy finished, and Husky nodded.

"Yeah, that…" he said quietly. "Sorry if I'm bothering you…" Cooro just shook his head though, smiling.

"You're not bothering me, it's fine," he said happily, messing around with the telephone wire. "So… what happened exactly? You're still at your house, right?" Cooro asked, hoping that he wasn't just sitting in the park or something and calling him from his cell phone. He'd probably end up hanging up and going to get him immediately if that was the case.

"Yeah, I'm in my room, don't worry," he said, and Cooro couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief. "It was just, he wanted to know why I didn't go to the funeral," he mumbled, and Cooro raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Why? But… didn't the police tell him what happened? After Keane confessed?" the black haired boy asked, and Husky nodded.

"That's my point, and then he had the nerve to call her my mother," he nearly growled into the phone, his anger from earlier starting to return. Cooro winced slightly, very away of the many possible ways that could have gone wrong. Nana was just staring at him, looking even more worried and impatient.

"What did you do after that?" he asked, and Husky just sighed.

"I yelled at him and locked myself in my room," he mumbled, still messing with his blanket. Cooro just nodded though, figuring that was probably one of the best possible scenarios for what could have happened.

"What are you gonna do now?" Husky shrugged, shifting his position on his bed.

"I don't know… I really don't want to be here," he said quietly, not used to actually talking to anyone about any of his messed up home life. Sure, he went to Cooro when Dylana first attacked him, and they talked about their powers and dreams a lot, but this was different, those were extremes. Hell, it was a whole lot more than he'd ever opened up to that stupid psychiatrist he'd went to for years.

"You can come back here if you want, you know you're welcome," the black haired boy suggested, but Husky just shook his head. No matter how much he wanted to just jump on that offer, it wasn't like he'd ever be allowed. Not now, at any rate.

"Thanks, but I don't think I'll be allowed to go anywhere for a while, let alone stay at a friends house," he said, and Cooro nodded. That made sense.

"Sorry, I wish we could help," Cooro said, and Husky just shrugged. There wasn't anything they could do, so he didn't even know why he was calling. Sure, some people would probably say something like, it's just better to talk about it, but Husky wasn't like that. At least, he'd never been before, but then again, he'd never actually had anyone to talk about things to before. Except his mother, but that was different.

"That's fine, I mean, you've already-" the silver boy wasn't able to finish his sentence, a banging on his door cutting him off in the middle.

"Who are you talking to?" it was his father again, and he almost immediately frowned, holding the phone away from his mouth so that he wouldn't end up hurting Cooro's ears.

"No one! Go away!" he yelled, sounding like the upset ten year old child he was.

"What was that?" Cooro asked, not having heard his father on the other end of the line. Husky chose to just ignore the knocking on his door and answer him.

"My dad, he wanted to know who I was talking to," he explained, but wasn't able to hear the black haired boy's response, getting drowned out by his father's call yet again.

"I just heard you talking to someone, who's in there?" he asked, and Husky rolled his eyes, repeating the same motion with his phone as he had the last time. How could he think there was someone in there with him? More importantly, how would that person even get in. Well, Cooro could fly yeah, but did father did not know that.

"No one! I'm on the phone!" he yelled, and after a few moments heard the blonde man walking back down the stairs, and sighed. "Sorry about that," he mumbled, not really used to apologizing so much. Cooro just shook his head though, not even the least bit upset, just a little worried.

"That's fine, are you sure you'll gonna be okay?" he asked, and Husky nodded. He'd be fine, even with the way his life was just a jumbled mess right now.

"Yeah, I'll be alright. Is Nana with you?" he asked, and Cooro glanced up to see Nana still staring at him, waiting to hear what in the world the two were talking about.

"Yep, she's right here," he said, which quickly caught the girl's attention.

"Is she freaking out trying to figure out what we're talking about?" he asked, having a feeling that if it wasn't that, then she'd somehow managed to find a way to listen in through another line in the church. You could actually do that on the phones in there, they were so old. Husky couldn't help but he a little bit intrigued by them when he had lived there.

"Yeah, kinda," he said, and Husky smiled slightly.

"Then you should probably go and tell her I'm fine, I'll talk to you guys tomorrow at school," the silver boy said. Cooro glanced at Nana once more before answering.

"You sure?" he asked, and Husky nodded.

"Yeah, see ya," and with that, the two hung up, and the silver boy placed the phone back on his bedside table and flopped face first into his bed. Okay, he was really glad that he didn't actually end his friendship with them, or else he'd probably would have run away again like Cooro had been worried he had. He probably wouldn't of even came home at all tonight to begin with actually, and while he wasn't happy to be there, he probably wouldn't last very long on his own. Not like Senri, who could somehow survive all by himself in the woods for who knows how long.

Pulling the blue blanket tighter around himself, he tried to get some sleep. Tomorrow would be the first day he went back to school in over a month, he wouldn't be used to waking up so early. He didn't care if his father wanted him to stay home longer, the more time he could stay out of that house, the better.

That's all it really was to him anymore, a house. Nothing more, nothing less.

* * *

Hurray, finished. Their friendships are really starting to get stronger, which is a good thing, because they're gonna need it with how their lives have been going. Also, I've officially closed the poll for how you'd want Fly to come into the story, and I have to say, I'm happy with the result, and definitely have a very solid plan for a while now.  
One last announcement, the next chapter is going to be a bonus chapter, because well, I feel like it. Also, it wouldn't fit in anywhere else, and I really like it and don't want it to be skipped over or anything.

Well, hope you liked this chapter, and please review.


	40. Bonus Chapter Like A Redheaded Stepchild

Hello everyone. What do we have here? Keane's bonus chapter! I know, you were probably expecting someone a little more relevant, like Cooro or Nana or even Senri, but I feel like it just fits in well with the current situation of the story. Plus, it's connected to Husky's bonus chapter, and answers a few questions about it

Also, I get to explain his side of the story, and a lot of other things that would probably help in understanding the dynamics of Husky's family, even if he doesn't even realize or know about them himself.. Oh, and the only reason I'm actually able to update this chapter now is because my wonderful beta reader StarNight888 got the chapter back to me, so I didn't actually have to write anything at the moment.

Bonus Chapter- Like a Redheaded Stepchild

"I'm home!" an eleven year old boy called as he shut the door behind him. Standing there for a few seconds, he sighed softly at the lack of any sort of answer before making his way up the stairs and into his room. Once inside, the boy known as Keane let his book bag fall to the floor and went over to his bed. At least today was the last day before thanksgiving break, but that only made him frown as another thought made its way into his mind.

Myrrha was coming over tomorrow, wasn't he? Absently he started toying with a Rubik's Cube he'd never managed to solve next to his bed as he thought. It would only be for two or three days, if he remembered correctly, and maybe the boy would just stay in his room the entire time, like he usually tried to. That would be perfectly fine with him if he did.

A few hours later his mother called him for dinner, and the child quickly ran down stairs to eat. His father wasn't home yet, but that didn't faze him in the least. Actually, he would have been more surprised if he was home, like he probably would be tomorrow. He tried to hide the anger that was starting to form inside of him once his mother came into view. He didn't want to start anything.

"Hello mother! How was your day?" he asked as happily as he could, trying to push any thoughts of his half brother out of his mind for the time being. The redheaded woman smiled at him, but it was cold, and he could tell her mind was elsewhere.

"Just fine dear, thank you for asking," she said, before starting to eat. Keane just nodded and began eating as well, trying to ignore the silence and the fact that she hadn't bothered to ask him how his day had been. She didn't most of the time, and he couldn't remember his father ever doing anything like that. They were always too wrapped up in each other or Myrrha…

The silent dinner quickly ended, and Keane excused himself back up to his room. Once there he just sat on his bed playing one of his hand held video games. Every so often he would glance at his clock. Eight o'clock… eight twenty-seven… nine o' three… the later it got, the more he was trying to convince himself he wasn't just trying to buy time until his father came home.

When he finally did hear the door open and close, it was eleven thirty-four and he was nearly half asleep. The child didn't go downstairs though, he just turned off his game, stared at the door, and listened.

It wasn't long at all before he heard his mother going into the room and the two adults start talking. Their voices were muffled, and he couldn't understand exactly what they were saying. He hoped it would stay like that; sometimes it did. Myrrha was coming tomorrow though, so he really, really doubted it.

Just as he thought, soon their voices began to rise, until he was able to understand the screaming argument clearly, even if he didn't really want to. It was the same stuff as always, and he didn't really know why he even bothered to stay up to listen anymore. It was habit, and he guessed maybe just a bit of fear. He needed to know exactly what was going on when his parents fought, just in case.

The loud crash of something breaking caused the redhead to flinch and squeeze his eyes shut in fear, but he didn't hear anymore screaming after that. His father walking away. A door slamming. His mother crying. Another crash. Her walking away this time. A door shutting, and finally silence. Keane glanced at the clock sitting on his wall again. Twelve twenty-two, they'd been fighting for nearly forty minutes. That was longer than usual.

Making sure to wait about another ten minutes the redhead quietly got out of his bed and made his way downstairs, as careful as he could to not wake anyone. When he reached the living room, all the lights were still on, and he quickly spotted the results of the two crashed he heard. The shattered remains of a vase and a broken picture frame on the floor. Going into the kitchen he quickly found the broom and dustpan and began sweeping up the mess.

Picking the photo out of the pile and placing it on the side table, he threw away the rest of the glass and damaged frame. The picture wasn't anything special, some field or something, his mom had brought it, but he didn't want to get in trouble for tossing it out. He would have tried to saved the frame too, if it hadn't been snapped during the fall like it had.

Once satisfied with his work, Keane put the broom and dustpan away before turning off the lights and heading back up to his room. He didn't want to leave the glass there for someone to get hurt on during the morning. No one ever asked him about what happened to the messes, he wondered if they even noticed someone had cleaned them in the first place. They must have, so he really didn't know why he never even got a thank you for his work. They were probably just still upset from the night before. Well, if he just kept fixing their mistakes, they'd have to show some appreciation eventually.

The next morning he woke up earlier than he would have liked, accidentally forgetting to turn his alarm clock for school off. Groaning to himself, he only managed to get out of bed due to his hunger.

Once he was down there, the eleven year old was surprised to see his father still home, instead of at work like he usually was. Of course, Myrrha was coming back today, so that was probably the reason. Keane tried not to let the anger from his jealousy show as he greeted the man. He didn't want to set anything off like what had happened last night. It had been about Myrrha after all. Even if he hadn't heard them, he would have known anyway. It was always about Myrrha and his mother Marian.

"Good morning Father," the redhead said, and his father just nodded, his mind looking elsewhere, as always. Keane doubted whether the man had ever actually focused on him alone once in his life.

"Morning," the man said absently after taking a sip of coffee. Keane just nodded before starting into the kitchen, and was quite surprised when his father's call actually stopped him. "Oh wait, Keane. I have a favor I need to ask of you," the blonde man said, and Keane quickly turned back around to face him. It wasn't normal that he asked his son to do anything, and he hoped slightly that it might be something to cheer his mother up after last night. The small hope was dashed as the man continued, however.

"Make sure that Myrrha doesn't spend the entire day in the guest room. I'll be back in time for dinner," he ordered, and reluctantly Keane nodded. Of course. It was always about Myrrha. He didn't get why his father didn't just live with the younger boy and his mother if he cared about them so much. He knew his mother didn't understand it either, but he wasn't going to start another fight. They started enough of those on their own, they didn't need his help.

"Yes father," he mumbled, and the tall man nodded again before walking away from his oldest son and heading out the door. Sighing, Keane started back upstairs and laid down in his bed to try and go back to sleep. He wasn't hungry anymore.

A few hours later, the redhead woke up again and checked the time. Eleven o'clock. He wasn't really sure what time Myrrha would get there, but as he went downstairs for the second time that day, he decided that it'd probably be best if he didn't fall back to sleep. He knew his mother hated to answer the door for his half brother, and it'd just be better if he was the one to do it.

Even though he tried his best to keep from starting any fights with his parents, he didn't have the same patience for the silver haired boy. The last time he'd spent a long time here, they managed to get into a fight so bad that Myrrha ended up breaking his nose. Thinking back on it, he couldn't even remember what had started the whole thing at Christmas, but that wasn't really giving him any clues, except for the fact that it probably hadn't actually been that important.

At any rate, he decided to stay downstairs until the silver haired boy arrived, simply wandering around the rooms and trying to amuse himself. It was about an hour later when he saw the grey car he recognized from the previous visits roll into the driveway, and stood behind the curtains to watch.

It was always the same, Myrrha would come out of the car, walk up to the porch, go back, they'd talk and only then would he actually manage to come inside. The "they talk" part did tend to vary sometimes, the longer the anticipated visit, the longer it took, and sometimes he used to try and get back inside the car, but the silver haired woman would always drag him back out. Keane was almost positive that they never had any idea he was watching, or else Myrrha wouldn't act like such a little kid.

The knock at the door quickly brought him out of his thoughts, and he started over to the entrance. "Comin'!" he called, actually sounding cheery, even if that was pretty much the opposite of what he was feeling at the moment. Each time Myrrha visited only caused everything to get all stressed for weeks on end. Opening the door, he made sure that the younger boy saw the false smile on his face fall at the sight of him.

"Oh, it's you…" he grumbled before moving out of the way to let him inside. "Well, let's get this over with, Husky," he said as the silver boy walked pasted him. Husky was the nickname Keane made for him when he was visiting a few years ago. He was probably nine-ish, which would of made Myrrha six. He'd heard his mother saying something about how ruff both his and his mother's voices were, and it just kind of stuck for some reason. He didn't even bother to try and correct him most of the time anymore.

"Don't act surprised, you know I was coming," the silver boy said before glancing up towards the stairs. "Same room as normal?" he asked, and Keane nodded. Without another word, he watched as Myrrha shifted the bag on his shoulder slightly before heading up the stairs silently, which truthfully he was thankful for. He didn't want to talk to Myrrha.

A frown set onto his face as the request from earlier replayed in his head, and he sighed. Really, he'd rather let the younger boy just do what he wanted and stay hidden away, but he'd said he'd make sure he didn't spend the whole time in the guest room. There was no guarantee that he'd actually manage to succeed with the stubborn child, but hey, at least his father couldn't say he wasn't going to try. Maybe not very hard, but he'd let him know what he wanted, at the very least.

Reaching the upstairs guest room, he knocked on the door and waited for the other boy to answer. "Yes?" came a voice from inside, and Keane decided to just get straight to the point. He would either listen to him, or he wouldn't, there wasn't anything he could do about that, after all.

"Dad wants you downstairs," he said dryly, getting ready to leave, but Myrrha's voice brought him back towards the door.

"He's here?" the younger boy asked, sounding a bit surprised, although why, Keane wasn't too sure, turning so that he was leaning against the door. Their father almost always at least tried to get home once when Myrrha would visit.

"No, but he said he didn't want you to spend the entire weekend locked up in that room," the redhead relayed the message he'd gotten that morning, not really trying to hide the spite in his voice as he said it. He didn't get why Myrrha would get this special attention. He stayed locked up in his room most of the time, and who knows what the silver haired boy does when he's at his real home.

"If he's not even here then why should I?" Myrrha asked, and Keane just rolled his eyes and shrugged at the comment. Like he'd thought before, it was perfectly fine by him if the brat wanted to stay locked up in his room for the next few days.

"That's just what he said, I could care less if you stay in there," he said truthfully. The inside of the room was quiet for a moment, and Keane was about to leave when the support on his back seemed to vanish into thin air, and the redhead yelped as he quickly fell backwards and onto the floor.

"I think I will," Myrrha's voice from above him barely managed to bring Keane out of his surprised stupor, but it wasn't until the door was shut again and he was pushed back outside that he realized what had just happened, and scrambled to his feet as fast as he possibly could. Trying to get inside, he found the door to be locked, and practically growled at the fact that the child had been here for less than ten minutes and he'd already gotten the upper hand on him once. He just thought he was so good at everything.

"Have fun locked in a room all alone! Not that you aren't used to it, Husky!" Keane yelled, the frustration from the night before and all of today bubbling inside of him, causing him to spit out the nickname like venom before stopping away towards his own room.

"That's not my name!" the redhead just managed to hear before slamming his own door shut and flopping down on his bed in an angry heap. He couldn't stand that kid! It wasn't fair! If Husky didn't want to be here, and they didn't want him here, then why was he here? Of course, his father wanted him around, for some reason.

Keane didn't do much of anything for a while, before finally feeling like he'd managed to cool down enough as to when he heard the front door opening and closing a few hours later signaling their father's return, he managed to go downstairs. He was still very irritated, and despite the slight fear that the older man instilled in him, his agitation at the silver haired boy was overruling it.

"Um, dad?" the redhead asked quietly, not really sure if he wanted to do this now that he'd actually started speaking. The fact that his father didn't even steal a glance at him as he answered didn't help his confidence either.

"Hm?" was all he managed to get out, and Keane was staring at the floor as he continued. He didn't care if he was being a snitch or whatever it was other kids at school talked about and made fun of. Husky deserved to get in trouble. Keane hadn't even done anything to start it this time.

"Myrrha, um… when I was trying to get him out of the guest room, he opened the door, and uh… made me fall… on purpose," the redhead mumbled quietly, glancing up after almost every other word to see his father's reaction. There wasn't anything though, he just flipped though several papers Keane didn't know the significance of before responding, and what he said was not what the boy wanted to hear.

"Did he come out of the room?" the blonde man asked, and Keane's head snapped up and he stared at him in shock, although he didn't even seem to notice. Just like always.

"Wha? N-no. I mean, no, he stayed in there the entire time," he said, the last part much more quieter and reserved than the first. Sighing, he left the study that his father was in without another word.

When dinner was finished, he was told to go fetch the younger boy, and couldn't keep himself from stomping the entire way up the stairs. "Come down for dinner!" he practically yelled, not caring at the moment if his parents over heard or anything. They made sure to never fight when Myrrha was visiting, after all.

Dinner was silent and awkward except for one time when his father attempted to actually start a conversation with Myrrha. It ended very quickly though, and the silver boy practically ran back to the guest room when he'd finished eating. Keane couldn't of cared less, and actually made his way to his own room almost just as quickly.

Much like the night before, he started to preoccupy himself with whatever he could get his hands on as he waited for the hours to pass. He just wanted his parents and Myrrha to hurry up and go to sleep, and even though he hadn't heard any sounds from any of them for the past few hours, it never hurt to be careful.

Finally at around 11:30, the redhead figured that it was late enough, and started out of his room as silently as he did on the nights his parents fought. He wasn't even really sure what he was doing, but slipping on a pair of shoes, he sneaked out the backdoor and about halfway down the yard, until he reached a porch swing they had set out.

Sitting down, he just stared up at the sky and let himself rock back and forth lightly. He'd gotten into the habit of coming outside like this on particularly bad days a while ago, although he wasn't really sure how it helped him any. He just needed to get out of that house sometimes. Well, technically he left for school and stuff all the time, but this was different. He just needed some time alone. Despite being late November, it actually wasn't too cold out, but it was chilly enough to keep him from falling to sleep.

It was just, dang it, he wasn't supposed to be treated like some redheaded stepchild! He was their kid! Their legal, shared child. It didn't make sense for his dad to like Myrrha more than him. Inside of him, he knew that it wasn't actually the silver boy's fault. Try to get that reasoning to stick inside your head though when he was being annoying, and the alternative to it, that his dad really just didn't care about him at all, and you'll see how hard it is.

He knew that his mother actually did care for him, deep down. She was just… she never really got over Myrrha, obviously. There wasn't anything the redhead could do about that though, and so he just tried to appreciate the moments when she did let on that she still thought about him. It was more than his father ever gave.

Maybe he'd never really gotten over Myrrha, either.

He hadn't meant to fall asleep on the swing, but it was early morning when he felt something crawling on top of him. Groaning, he opened his eyes to scream and fling up, shooing the squirrel that had decided he was a part of the swing away and letting it scurry up a tree. Even animals didn't bother to notice he exists, apparently.

Glaring at the small animal twitching its tail high up in one of the branches now, Keane sighed and stood up. Quickly, he started rubbing his arms up and down in order to generate some body heat. It seemed like it'd gotten cooler over the course of the night, and the sun was just barely creating a small grey streak in the eastern sky. His body was sore from staying in the unfamiliar position for so long, and he stretched before walking back up his yard and sneaking inside.

He was halfway up the stairs and to his room when something silvery on the couch caught his eye, and he stopped to see what it was. Frowning, he quickly realized that it was Myrrha, sleeping on the couch for some reason. Rolling his eyes, he went back down the stairs and over to the younger boy.

"Husky, wake up," Keane said, poking him slightly, and watching as Myrrha quickly pushed himself into a sitting position before looking around the room, a slight confused stare on his face. "Why are you sleeping on you couch? Mom'll be up soon, go to your room if you don't want her to find you," he asked, not really sure why he'd added the last part. It was clear that neither Myrrha or his mother liked to be around the other, and he just wanted to have as few fights as he could once the silver boy went back home. He didn't get an answer though, Myrrha just deciding to ask his own question instead.

"Why were you outside last night?" he asked, and Keane wasn't able to keep the look of fear off his face as the realization that someone, that Husky, had saw him. As soon as he was able to realize it, he managed to masked the slip up with anger.

"What are you talking about?" he attempted to deny, although he already knew that it wasn't going to fool Myrrha at all.

"I saw you on the swing last night, waited on the couch for you to come in and ask what was up, but fell asleep. So there's the answer for your question, now tell me mine. Why were you out on a swing at midnight?" the silver boy explained to him dully, and Keane started to stare at the floor.

"It's none of your business," he grumbled, not able to think of any other way to end the conversation. There was no way he was going to tell the little brat that it was all his fault that his life was a living hell half the time, especially when it wasn't really anything that he could of actually controlled. He didn't make their dad fall in love with his mom, after all. It wasn't his fault that Keane's parents were so dead set on staying together despite how horrible their relationship was obviously threaded.

"Fine by me, just don't get yourself killed by wandering maniacs during your romantic moonlit evenings alone," Myrrha said as he walked past the redhead and up the stairs to his room. Keane just stood in his spot for a minute before finally rolling his eyes at the stupid comment and going into his own room to sleep again.

He didn't see the silver boy again until dinner that day. It was actually thanksgiving dinner, but no one really seemed all that excited or thankful. His father wasn't even here tonight, and soon Myrrha was practically running from the table again. This time though, Keane decided to actually go after the younger boy. There was something bothering him, although he wasn't even sure why.

"Hey Husky," he called, stopping the younger boy before he got the chance to go into his room. He was actually pretty thankful that he didn't just try to ignore him or anything. If he did, it probably would have just escalated into a fight, and for once that wasn't what he was looking for by calling him over.

"Yeah?" he answered blankly, and Keane decided to just get straight to the point of what he wanted. They had never been ones for small talk, after all. At least, not with each other, not in the least.

"You didn't tell anyone I was outside?" he asked, and he actually hoped it was the case. If he did, then that just reinforced his shrinking belief in his parent's care for him even more. Myrrha just stared at him confused though, before answering.

"No. Who would I tell? Dylana hates me and dad isn't even home," the silver boy said, not really sounding very bothered with either of those facts. "You didn't tell about me opening the door on you?" he asked back, and a frown set itself onto the redhead's face as the memory came back.

"Oh, I did, but Dad didn't care. You're always been his favorite," Keane practically spat. He'd never actually said that out loud before, let alone to Myrrha himself, but the past few days had just seemed to build that fact up higher and higher, until it was practically causing the older boy to boil over with jealousy. Myrrha just cocked his head to the side though, like some sort of confused dog.

"That's stupid. I never even see him, how could he possibly even care about me, let alone more than you? He was probably on the phone or something and you didn't notice," Myrrha said, sounding like he didn't even consider what Keane had just told him to be an option. The redhead just rolled his eyes though. He knew that his dad had not been "on the phone or something" and didn't hear him. He'd purposefully just asked if Myrrha had come out of his room at all. It was insulting! But of course, the little eight year old kid in front of him wouldn't understand any of that, and just started to walk away.

"Whatever. I'm leaving, you know where I'll be if there's a fire or something," he said, before shutting the door to his room before Keane had any chance to say something back to him. Sighing, he started away from the guestroom and down the hallway before locking himself in his own room again.

Myrrha was leaving tomorrow, so he probably wasn't going to come out of his room at all until then, if he could help it. Keane didn't care, the less he had to see that little punk, the better.

Of course, he couldn't get rid of the feelings of mis-blame and jealousy that wracked his mind. It was Myrrha's fault that his life was so messed up. Even if he didn't do it on purpose, and he probably had problems too. He did have a therapist, which the redhead teased him endlessly for once he'd found out, and normal kids don't get those.

That didn't change the fact that he was still their father's favorite, and Keane couldn't figure out what he'd done wrong to get treated like some sort of errand boy instead of an actual son. It wasn't fair.

The next day, Keane watched from his bedroom window as Myrrha ran out of the house and was driven away in his mother's car. Before the car was even out of sight, the child flinched at the sound of something breaking downstairs. It sure was a good thing they were so rich, or else they wouldn't have any windows or electronics left, let alone anything else made of glass. Once his mother cooled down and left the room she was trashing, Keane would go and clean it up for her as best as he could before his father got home. It would keep the fighting to a minimal.

Looking back out the window, any sign of Myrrha or his mother was gone, and he frowned to himself. Maybe that was what really got under his skin and caused the envy that surged through him towards the younger boy, beyond everything else. Beyond being the favorite, beyond having a mother who really cared about him and showed it all the time, beyond not having to feel like every day was a struggle to get some sort of proof that someone actually thought about him.

Myrrha got to leave, and he was stuck here, desperately struggling to clean up the mess of a marriage that should have ended years ago.

* * *

Daaang! I did not expect to write… that. I mean, I knew what was going to happen in this chapter, but I didn't expect it to be so… hard on the little redhead. Basically, Keane is severely neglected, and in a classic case of 'stay together for the kids' that he really doesn't like.  
Like I said, I did not expect so much… angst. I have to say I'm proud of it though, hopefully it helps to let you know just what was going on behind the scenes of Husky's family, and how Dylana could have stooped so low as try to kill a child, and then herself.  
Well, I hope you managed to like this pretty depressing piece, which turned out longer than the last bonus chapter, which was my previous longest chapter to date, and please review.


	41. Chapter 39

Hello everybody, time for a new year and a new chapter. Anybody do new years resolutions? I don't normally, but decided last night that I should try to write an original story this year (although I would never let that take away from my fan fiction time. Oddly enough this is much more important to me at the moment). Anyway, I'll stop babbling now and get on with the chapter.

Chapter 39

The next morning Husky slammed his hand down on his alarm clock as it woke him up at what felt like an absolutely ungodly time. Urg, he was right when he said he wouldn't be used to waking up so early in the morning. Grumbling to himself, he quickly got dressed in a light blue sweater that covered his neck and grey jeans. It was cool out now, so he could justify covering his neck all the time. He still didn't know what he'd do once it was summer though.

Pushing the thought from his head, he grabbed his book bag for the first time in what felt like forever, and started downstairs. He had no idea if he should wake up Keane, or wait for him or something, but decided to just get himself ready and head out on his own if the redhead didn't come down himself. Luckily no one seemed to be awake downstairs, but he didn't waste any time in quickly throwing together a haphazard lunch and heading out the door without any breakfast. He wasn't that hungry anyway. It must have slipped his mind that he hadn't eaten for nearly a day now.

Once he reached the outside of the church the silver boy waited at the bottom of the steps. His mind kept wondering to other matters, but he knew that he was at least ten minutes earlier than he used to meet the older boy. Cooro probably hadn't left yet.

He was sitting on the steps and watching the discolored leaves blow around the street when Cooro and Nana walked out from the side of the church. He'd almost forgotten that Nana had stayed there for a second night.

"Hey Husky, how're you feeling?" Cooro asked as they walked up to him. The ten year old just shrugged as he pushed himself up off the stone steps.

"Fine I guess, you guys okay?" he answered, starting towards the direction of the school. The other two followed him, starting to talk casually. None of them were really able to mention the cluster of events that had taken place over the last few days. Trying for at least a morning to pretend that everything was normal again. When they reached the school building, Husky realized that he didn't have a note saying why he wasn't there. Truthfully, he'd always thought was just a waste of paper. He figured that it didn't really matter though. His father had phoned into the school about what'd happened, and after the incident with Keane, it was a definite that they knew. He really doubted he'd get in any trouble for staying home due to a death in the family.

It hadn't taken them very long at their lockers, since they didn't actually need much for testing, just pencils really. They gave them calculators and paper and all that stuff. It wasn't long before they said goodbye to Nana and were once again in their classroom.

Husky made a point to ignore any of the students that were staring or whispering. He'd been gone with almost no explanation for over a month now, of course they'd act all weird when he finally came back. He could tell that even Mr. Brighton was surprised, but thankfully she didn't show it as blatantly as some of her students. It was kind of impressive, seeing how obvious it was that she wore her emotions on her sleeve.

The test was relatively easy, even though he hadn't been there in so long. Of course, he'd never really had much trouble with standardized tests. A lot of it you could get just by process of elimination.

About halfway through the morning they were given a ten minute break time, where the teacher passed out a bunch of mini water bottles and gram crackers shaped like goldfish. Husky almost immediately passed his to Cooro.

"You don't want it?" the black haired boy asked as Husky took a sip out of his water bottle. He nodded afterwards, trying to ignore the ever growing noise from the children around them.

"I hate gram crackers, you can have it," the silver boy said, and Cooro quickly ate both his own and his friend's fish crackers. Husky did manage to drink all of his water though. He was starting to realize just how hungry he was from skipping breakfast, but it would only be about an hour and a half until lunch. He could hold out until then.

"So," the silver boy started, "how's Nana doing? Does she still want to go back home?" he asked, still feeling a bit bad about how everything happened yesterday and that they weren't really able to get anything important done because of it. Cooro downed nearly all of his water bottle in one shot before answering.

"I think she's doing better, but yeah, I had to make sure she didn't go home last night, but I don't know if she'll let me do it again," he explained, and Husky nodded. It was good that she seemed to be taking the whole powers thing okay, but it worried him that they still didn't know how exactly it happened. The only thing they did know was that it was similar to how _his _appeared. If that was the case then her going home was the last thing he wanted to happen, but it wasn't like they could really stop her if that's what she wanted.

Soon their break was over and it was right back to silently testing, which Husky was almost grateful for. Not that he didn't want to talk to Cooro, but the noise from the rest of his class was starting to give him a headache. He really wasn't used to it anymore. When he thought about it though, he'd really never been used to it. He was actually doing better than when he'd first tried to go back to school after the incident with Dylana, which was kind of hard to believe. Of course, it would have been kind of difficult to do worse.

After what felt like an eternity it was time for lunch, and the cafeteria was even louder than the classroom. The silver boy tried to just ignore it as he sat down at the old table with the other two. They didn't really talk about anything important, even though it was obvious that a billion different thoughts were on each of their minds. None of them knew if they should say anything though, so they didn't.

Once lunch was over they all had to go back to their classrooms. The two boys quickly said goodbye to Nana before they left. They didn't have any testing in the afternoon, and Ms. Brighton didn't try to teach them anything new. Instead she just gave the class a few sheets of busy work like word searches and puzzles so that they wouldn't go completely wild. She did make sure to give Husky a summary of everything that he missed. He didn't need to do all of it, but she was going to make him some supplement material instead.

When he looked over everything, it really wasn't as much as he thought it would be. He had a feeling that Ms. Brighton had tried to compact it as much as possible, so that he wouldn't be overwhelmed or anything.

"So, did things get any better? I mean, after we stopped talking last night," Cooro asked, startling the silver boy slightly. Sure, everyone else was talking, but he'd just been lost in his own little world for a few seconds. Plus, it was the first time any of them had mentioned any of the events of the previous day. Thinking it over a bit, the only thing he could really do was shrug.

"Not really. Well, I just went to sleep and then left this morning, I didn't see anyone to get to talk to them or anything. It hasn't gotten any worse, at the very least," the ten year old said, and Cooro nodded, doodling on the side of his half-done crossword puzzle.

"Are you sure you'll be okay living there?" the black haired boy asked, and Husky almost instantly nodded. He'd be fine, and if he tried to live at the church or somewhere else now, he knew that his dad would probably just come and drag him back. Or his aunt would try to drag him to her house, he could see that happening too. Of course, then his dad would try to take him back home, and they'd get into a fight. That was not a scenario he was looking forward to.

"It'd be best for me to stay," he said confidently, and Cooro decided to let it go or now. If anything happened to the younger boy though, he probably wasn't going to let him off so easily.

Soon class was finally over and the two boys were at their lockers, pulling out a few miscellaneous items to take home. Cooro was leaning against the wall waiting for Husky, he had quite a few more things he needed due to all the missed time, when his head perked up, and he couldn't help but smile. It was still weird, but now that he realized that it was there, it was pretty interesting.

"Nana's coming," he said confidently, causing the silver haired boy to look around for the girl, but she wasn't anywhere in sight down either end of the hallway.

"What do you mean? Oh, there she is…" Husky mumbled, seeing the brunette turn the corner, before looking over to where Cooro was still leaning against the other lockers. "How'd you know that?" he asked, but an explanation from the day before started to form in his mind before Cooro even started talking.

"Remember what I said before, after I found you in the pond?" the eleven year old asked, and Husky just nodded, already knowing what he was getting at. Before either boy was able to say another word Nana was at their side.

"Hi guys," she said, and the two quickly greeter her. Husky managed to shut his locker before turning back to Cooro.

"Have you told her about that yet?" he asked, confusing the brunette slightly. Cooro had to think for a moment. Oh yeah, he had wanted to tell her, but had never gotten a chance with the way everything had gone yesterday. The older boy shook his head, and it only seemed to pique Nana's interest even more.

"What didn't you tell me? I want to know," She asked, and the three started walking out of the still crowded building as the two boys began to explain. Somehow, Husky had managed to get better at discussing this sort of stuff in public. Cooro was right, no one would believe anything they overheard. They'd just think that they were stupid kids talking about a TV show, or something like that.

"Apparently Cooro can sense where we are because of our powers, that's how he found me in the lake," Husky said, still not quite believing it was true. Well, maybe he did believe it was true, but it was still very surprising. He couldn't think of any other way Cooro could have been so spot on though, and if he said it had something to do with their powers, he was probably right. Nana just raised an eyebrow, although it was less in skepticism and more in surprise.

"What? When did this start?" she asked, and Cooro shrugged slightly, sidestepping a few other students.

"The first time it was strong was when we were looking for you, but I didn't notice it at first. Coming to think about it though, that might have been how I've always been able to find Senri, even though I never know where he's going to be…" the black haired boy explained. Nana nodded slowly, but Husky started to frown and stopped to turn towards Cooro.

"Wait, but didn't you say that you only noticed his marking the day you met me? If it had to do with our powers, how would it work before then?" the younger boy asked, and Cooro couldn't really think of an explanation. Unless it didn't have anything to do with their powers, which didn't make any sense. Nana was looking just as confused, but soon the three children started walking again.

"I donno, but we still don't understand everything yet… maybe once we learn more about how these animas work, we'll figure out how I can track you down too," Cooro said at last, and Husky nodded in agreement. Once again, there wasn't really anything else they could do besides wait for more information. They had just passed out of the school grounds now, and stopped in confusion as two boys blocked their path. It took Husky a few seconds to realize who they were, and felt like slapping himself when he finally did. With everything that'd happened, he'd forgotten about that little nuisance.

"Do we _seriously_ have to go through with this?" he groaned, causing both Tyler and Joe to frown, as well as Selim, who he really should have known was standing behind them, decided to make himself known.

"We were just wondering where you'd disappeared off to," the wealthy boy said, the mocking tone he always used still as thick as it ever was. Truthfully, it make Husky almost want to laugh that _this _had once been one of the major extents of his problems. Cooro and Nana hadn't said anything yet, but the black haired boy didn't look as frightened as he used too, and Nana just looked peeved, much like Husky.

"We don't have time for this," the silver boy grumbled. Sure, he wasn't in a rush to get home, but it was still true. To his surprise, Nana actually nodded in agreement, which only seemed to anger the three bullies more.

"You don't have a choice about that, ya hear?" Joe threatened, but it simply didn't affect the three like it'd had in the past. All Husky's reaction had been was to raise an eyebrow in question, but it wasn't even very mocking or defensive like he'd been in the past. Frankly, he just looked slightly bored with the whole thing.

"Really now? You do realize you have no power to hold us here," Husky said, causing Selim to cross his arms angrily, obviously taking that as some sort of challenge.

"Up against two little girls and a cowardly weakling? I'm pretty sure we have a lot of power," Tyler insulted. Husky practically growled at the taller boy, and he could of sworn that he looked like he was starting to regret saying that, if just a bit. Like Cooro had thought before, Husky could be pretty intimidating when he wanted to be, despite his elegant looks.

"Do you want to test that, you jerks?" Nana asked before Husky was able to open his mouth, surprising both her friends and the other boys slightly. Although Husky and Cooro weren't surprised for the same reason the others were, that she was the first one to actually challenge them. No, it was for the fact that she was bouncing back from whatever happened to her so well. Something just didn't sit right with that for either boy. Now wasn't the time to ask her about it though, once they were away from these nuisances, then they could get the chance to make sure she was _really _okay.

"Ha, even if any of you could fight, it's still three against three," Joe said smugly, even though nothing about his final point exactly tipped anything in their favor. Eh, Husky had always had a suspicion he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

"We're not going to fight you, so just leave already," the silver boy said, an exasperated tone to his voice. With how much he doubted that just telling them to leave would work, he wasn't surprised at all that they didn't budge in the slightest. An odd thought struck the young boy, and he nearly laughed. If they could use their animas without fear, it would send these kids screaming, but there wasn't any chance of that happening. So instead, he quickly wiped away whatever small smile had found it's way onto his face and tried to think of some way to get all three of them out safely. They probably wouldn't hurt Nana if they could help it, she was a girl after all, but he and Cooro had been proven before to be fair game.

"Fine… we'll fight you," Husky sighed. He could practically feel the way the mood around the three boys changed from one of smug victory to one of shock and doubt. They really didn't know what to do when someone didn't go along with their plans.

"Um, Husky? I don't like fighting…" Cooro mumbled. Even though he wasn't as afraid of the other boys as much as he used to be, not by a long shot, the child still knew he wasn't very strong at all. Plus there was the fact that what he said was simply true, he didn't like fighting.

"Then you don't have to," the silver boy said calmly. He already knew that Cooro wouldn't fight back. Really, he had no idea what he was doing saying they would fight. It was really two against three, although Selim probably wouldn't fight either. It wasn't his style. So now it was two on two again, but he did not want to have Nana fight either. Not after everything that happened to her recently. He was practically out of it for _weeks_ after Dylana tried to kill him. It amazed him that she was still going strong. So he was down to two against one again, not really odds he liked.

"Hah, you really think we'll just let him off the hook? You've got another thing coming," Tyler butted in. The silver boy glared daggers at him as Cooro took a small step back. No, not odds he liked at all, but he could work with them if he was pissed enough. With how everything had been going for him recently, that would not be a hard task in the least.

Before any of the children were able to say anything else, a white car with slightly tinted windows pulled up along side them, and this time Husky instantly recognized it. He wasn't able to decide on whether or not running, and probably causing Tyler and Joe to start chasing him was worth it before his aunt quickly stepped out of the front seat of the car and walked over to where the group was standing. She wasn't wearing the black dress suit anymore, but a light grey pants suit and flat shoes. He should have known that she'd probably planned to stay a few days, or changed whatever plans she did have to that after the scene he put on.

"Myrrha, what are you doing?" Crystala asked, although there wasn't really any tinge of interrogation or aggression in her voice, just worry. He guessed they must not of wanted him to go to school after all. Husky shrugged, trying to ignore the attention that now seemed to be centered on him yet again.

"Nothing, I just went to school," he said, and it was pretty truthful. That is all he did after all. He hadn't been planning to get into a fight or anything, and so far nothing had happened, so it wasn't like it was worth mentioning. The blonde woman sighed slightly and nodded.

"Alright. Now come with me, we're going home," she told him. Husky glanced back towards the two others almost instantly. Sure, those three jerks weren't doing anything at the moment, but that was because Crystala was here now. It was just like Cooro had said all that time ago, they won't do anything if they aren't alone. Once his aunt took him away though, they would be, and this time the other two wouldn't have him to protect them.

"Um…" he started, quickly getting the older woman's attention. The three bullies were leaning against a brick wall, but Husky ignored them for the moment. "Can they come?" he asked quietly, glancing over at Cooro and Nana. The two looked surprised, but his aunt calmly shook her head.

"Myrrha, you can play with your friends later, we need to get back," she said softly. Husky shook his head though, glancing over at the three children watching them, hoping that she would get the message. She was usually smart like that, but with his luck this would be the one time that she wouldn't get it.

"No, just to drop them off real quick. It's um, important," he said, looking back over at the source of his worry one last time. The blonde woman quickly seemed to make the connection, and sighed slightly before nodding. Cooro and Nana still looked rather confused about the whole situation, but didn't say anything as Crystala ushered them inside of her car.

"Okay, where do you two live?" she asked once they were all seated. Both children were giving Husky a look that asked why he'd just done that, but the silver boy simply shrugged his shoulders in response. He still owed them for last night, but he wasn't going to say that in front of his aunt. Or ever, if he could help it.

"Um, you remember where the church is, right? You went there yesterday, it's just a few blocks from here," Cooro said, turning his attention away from the younger boy and to his aunt. The woman nodded and started her car in the direction without a word.

The ride was rather short and silent. The three kids couldn't really continue the conversation they were having before Selim and his goons had shown up in front of Crystala, after all.

Once they reached the small church, Cooro stepped out of the car and thanked the blonde woman, before turning towards Nana.

"You coming?" he asked hopefully, but the small girl shook her head. Both boys frowned almost simultaneously. If they were alone, they might have been able to convince her to stay another day, but it would be incredibly suspicious if they tried with someone watching. Plus, Husky knew his aunt. If she found out something was wrong, she would try to help, and while that was nice and all, be wasn't all too sure if that was the kind of help they needed at the moment.

"No, I probably need to get home too," she said simply, and very reluctantly Cooro nodded.

"Okay, well… bye then, oh, and thanks again Ms. Crystala," the black haired boy said after a moment, and Crystala nodded. Slowly, he shut the car door before heading towards the back of the church. The blond woman turned around to face the backseat where the two remaining children were sitting and began to address Nana.

"What way is it to your house, dear?" the woman asked.

"Go down this street and make a left. Then take a right on the second light," Nana started, and Crystala followed her directions. Besides the brunette occasionally telling her the next way to turn, the ride was as silent as the first one. Husky glared out the window the entire time, trying to think of some way to keep the girl he used to hate from going back home. The more he tried, the more it seemed like a lost cause. It wasn't long before they were pulling into a small trailer park on the outskirts of a wooded area and Nana was telling them where to park.

"Thank you for dropping me off," the green eyed girl said happily. Husky didn't like it in the least. She was _traumatized_ a few days ago, there was no way she'd made as great a recovery as she was pretending, and he sure as hell didn't think she should be stepping foot in that shabby little trailer. He never even realized she was poor before. It quickly came to his attention how much worse off all his friends seemed to be when compared to him in that regards.

"You're welcome, have a good night," Crystala said politely, and Nana nodded. The silver boy didn't say anything, too wrapped up in his own thoughts to really acknowledge that Nana had even addressed them. Sighing, the young girl snapped her figures in front of his face, quickly getting his attention and a fierce glare. It didn't really seem to bother her though. He really didn't even mean anything by it. The look had mainly just come out of instinct.

"Relax, okay? I'll see you and Cooro tomorrow," she said before quickly shutting the door and starting to walk up her yard. Husky wasn't able to see her actually go inside though, his aunt starting up the car again and heading back towards his house.

He really doubted he would be able to listen to the brown haired girl's advice. How could he possibly relax with everything that was not only going on at his house, but having to worry about whether or not he really_ would _see her tomorrow? He quickly shook that last thought from his mind though. She said she was going to be okay, so she would be.

At least, he hoped she would.

* * *

Hurray, finished. Who-da-thunk Selim and his cronies would come back, huh? Sorry if that seemed a little… weird, but I wanted to get that little subplot from days long ago tied up, and kind of show how much they've all changed since the beginning of the story. Next chapter will have Nana's return home. You know I can't resist a cliff.

Anyway, thanks for reading and please review. They let me know that I didn't do something horribly wrong.


	42. Chapter 40

Hey everyone. If you've been on my account, you know that my computer is broken. No, I haven't gotten it fixed, but this chapter was actually already stored on my fanfiction account before everything broke, so I was able to access it instead of having to write the whole thing out again. Still don't know when the new computer I got will be up and running, or when /if I'll be able to get the files off the old one, since it has about three more chapters of this story stored on there, and I really, really don't want to have to rewrite them. I will if it comes to that, but figures crossed that it won't.

Anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you all like it, and thanks for sticking by me with all the techno problems.

Chapter 40

Husky had managed to lose himself in thought as Crystala drove them both back to the house. They weren't very far out of the trailer park before the blonde woman started talking though. The child barely realized it at first, but managed to quickly pull himself out of his mind in order to understand what she had said.

"Is everything alright?" she asked simply, and the silver boy wasn't able to keep himself from snorting in response. Usually he wasn't this disrespectful to her, but really; there shouldn't have been any reason for her to need to ask that. She was there last night. She saw what had happened, and no doubt she had managed to get most, if not all of the details out of his dad by now.

"Just peachy," he mumbled, leaning his head against the cool window pane. Well, at least he didn't need to worry about Cooro at the moment. That didn't exactly ease his mind though, seeing as that was his only friend where that was the case. Even though she'd told him to relax, Husky doubted he would be able to go through the entire night without at least calling Cooro, if not Nana herself wondering if she was still safe. She had never told them what happened, and that was what bothered the child most right now.

"I talked to your father," Crystala said, breaking the silver boy out of his thoughts once again. He didn't look away from the slow moving scenery (which he wished would actually hurry up. He hated after school traffic) to answer.

"Kinda had a feeling," he said blankly, not really in the mood to be talking about this, or anything actually. He knew she was just trying to help, but he wasn't really one to take help easily. The whole fiasco that had been yesterday was proof enough of that. His aunt didn't say anything for a moment, and Husky thought that she might have just decided to end the conversation.

"Myrrha?" she started again. Husky closed his eyes, the buildings and people swirling by giving him a slight headache. Well, it was most likely that combined with all the anxiety building up inside of him like a volcano. Huh, to think he'd end up getting this worried about that stupid girl that hit him in the face with a volleyball all that time ago. Truthfully, that wasn't the only reason he was so bent up inside, even if he couldn't get his mind off of it. He didn't want to go back home, but there wasn't any choice in that matter.

"Hmm?" he answered halfheartedly, not really paying her any attention by this point.

"What's wrong?" Crystala asked, and Husky pulled his head away from the window to look at her. That was a weird thing to ask. She obviously knew what was going on, so why was she asking him? Did she just want to hear his version of it? Then again everyone had heard what he had to say last night before he stormed up to his room. The older woman caught a glimpse of his befuddled face in her rearview mirror, and started to ask her question again. She made sure to be a bit more specific this time around.

"No, not that. Something's been bothering you ever since your friend didn't get out at the church. Is there something I should know about?" she explained. It took quite a bit of effort for Husky to keep himself from looking too surprised. Had it really been that obvious that they didn't want her to go home? Well, this certainly wasn't a good sign of things to come if they couldn't even keep that under wraps.

"No. Why would I care if she went home or not? I just have a headache from yesterday," he lied. It was clear that the blonde woman didn't exactly believe him, but looking back up front it seemed like she wasn't going to press it anymore. At least, not directly to him, which was all he could be thankful for at the moment. He didn't doubt she would try to go through some other people, maybe his dad or Keane, to figure out what was going on, but there wasn't anything he could do about that.

After what felt like eternity, the two pulled into the driveway. Nana's house didn't even seem that far away, but the traffic had been terrible right after school letting out and everything. Reluctantly, Husky got out of the car. There wasn't anything he could do now but try to keep everything from blowing up again, like it had last night.

He just hoped that Nana's homecoming would be a better experience than his own.

The brunette girl stood in front of her front door, bracing herself to actually go inside. The screen door was no longer attached, leaning up against the side of the trailer instead. She hadn't thought that it would have ended up coming completely off just because she broke one of the hinges. Then again, she couldn't really be sure if she had only broken one. It could have been more, but she was too distraught to really take any notice. She wouldn't have been too surprised if that was the case. Those old hinges had been bound to snap anyway.

Shaking her head, Nana tried to get herself to focus again. She was going inside. She had told the others that she would be fine, and she wasn't lying. At least, she really, really hoped that she wasn't. After what had happened though, the green eyed girl really didn't know what to expect.

Finally, she managed to build up enough courage inside herself to twist the doorknob slowly. Walking like the floor was made of eggshells; she snuck into the silent trailer. It looked exactly the same as it always did. Miscellaneous objects thrown about, a few random beer cans no matter how much her mother tried to clean them up. Of course, she didn't know if her mother was even here anymore. Taking a deep breath, Nana pushed the unpleasant thought from her mind and closed the door behind her as silently as she could.

Standing still for a few moments, she finally started to tip toe towards her room. Once she got there, the brunette found that the door was still wide open. When she managed to get up enough courage to look inside the threshold, it took everything the young girl had to keep from panicking or running out of the trailer again. The bleach bottle was still there, turned over and having stained a large portion of her blanket and rug white.

Breaking deeply, Nana managed to go into the room and wrapped the old bottle in her stained blanket. Carrying them into the kitchen, she dumped them onto the floor in front of the washer. S-she could figure out what to do with them later.

Quickly, the brunette started to head back to her room. She didn't want to be out in the open for too long. Truthfully, she was starting to wonder how good of an idea it really was to come back. Maybe the others had been right about staying at the church, but if someone came looking for her... Well, she really didn't know, other than the fact that she just didn't want her friends to worry. It seemed like it was kind of too late for that though. Cooro and Husky's reaction when she didn't get out at the church was clear that they were rightfully scared of her going home, even if they tried to act like everything was find in front of Ms. Crystala. It was also too late to consider going back to the church though. The others would definitely think something horrible had happened to her if she did.

Before she was able to actually get back inside her room, Nana was frozen by the sound of her parent's bedroom door opening. She was in the middle of the hallway. Whoever was coming out could see her perfectly, but she wasn't able to get up the courage to actually look up and see who it was herself. She couldn't even decide which of her parents she _wanted _it to be. It used to always be her mother she hoped for, but after what happened… Well, at the moment, neither of them seemed like a very good answer.

"Nana?" she tried not to cringe at the sound of the rugged, worn voice, but failed slightly. It was her father, although she still didn't know if she thought that was worse. It did make her wonder what it meant though. Was her mother even home? She had no clue. Slowly, she managed to look up. The older man's expression was one of worry and shock, and Nana wasn't actually sure how to respond. "You're alright?" he asked, sounding completely stunned, and slowly the girl nodded.

It took her a few seconds to realize that he wasn't drunk. Once that knowledge slowly managed to sink its way in, she found it slightly easier to breath, and actually started to talk. Well, it was more like whispering, but it was still better than the silent fear she had been stuck in before.

"W-where's mom?" she asked finally. Her father sighed, running a hand down his face slowly. He seemed to practically deflate at the question. When she thought about it though, he didn't exactly appear very peppy to begin with. He was leaning against the door frame though, as if he couldn't stand without its support. All the time he was still staring at her like he couldn't believe she was actually there. It almost scared her. He hadn't… thought she died, right?

"The hospital. The doctors said she should be able to come home in a few days," he explained. Nana slowly managed to nod. Hospital… that must have meant she… No, better not think about that now; at least not while her father was still around. "I can't believe you're okay…" she heard the older man mumble to himself. When she looked up, she hadn't noticed that he'd walked over to her.

She hadn't meant to. She knew he wasn't actually drunk this time, but when he grabbed her shoulder, the brunette's first instinct was to flinch away. He let go of her instantaneously, like the flinched had burned him. When Nana looked back up, she couldn't remember the last time her father had just looked plain old sad. It definitely wasn't something she was used to. None of this was.

"I'm so _sorry_…" the worn man mumbled. "Nana, I'm so sorry. Things are going to be better from now on, I promise," he stumbled out. His daughter just stared at him in shock. None of this was making logical sense. She had never expected to hear that. Not from her father, at least. Her mother had told her that over and over again, but she never really believed it. Now… she wasn't sure if she did or not. Things like this didn't seem to actually happen.

"R-really?" she couldn't keep herself from asking, and the brown haired man nodded.

"Yes… as soon as your mother gets home. I promise nothing will ever hurt you again," he answered quietly. Nana had absolutely no idea how she was supposed to respond to any of this. Finally, she decided to just believe he was telling the truth and nodded. That's what she hoped would happen, at least. Even if it felt more like some sort of sick joke, she wasn't going to try and test it.

"Um, dad?" she said after a while. "I'm uh, kind of tired… is it okay if I…" she trailed off, and the older man almost instantly nodded.

"Of course. Go rest. I'll- I'll see you once you start feeling better," he said, and Nana nodded before heading into her room and closing the door behind her. Once alone, she ran over and collapsed onto her bed. The room still reeked like bleach. She'd have to open up her window and turn on some fans, but right now she couldn't really think straight enough to actually get up and do it.

That had gone… surprisingly well. She still had absolutely no clue how long this would last, but hopefully it would be at least be long enough for her to start to really recover. Her mother was still alive, which she really was glad about. She had no idea how she would have reacted if she'd found out differently. She still couldn't really wrap her mind around what had happened to land her in the hospital in the first place. She hadn't actually tried to go through with her plan, had she?

Shaking her head, Nana's entire mind felt numb from an overload of emotions she didn't trust herself to have. Pushing herself up, the brunette quickly opened the window and turned on the small fan on her desk in order to relieve some of the smell.

It was still rather early in the day, but curled up on her bed, she fell asleep with practically no delay. She hadn't been lying when she said she was tired, and the fact that she didn't have any blankets didn't seem to bother her in the least. It was cold with the fans going and the cool late fall air blowing in, but she her exhaustion over powered that part of her being with little effort.

Husky followed his aunt into the house. He was actually a little surprised to see that his father wasn't waiting for them, but quickly rolled his eyes at the thought. Like he would ever stay home from work for either of them. That was the reason Crystala had been the one to pick him up, and not his father after all. Before he was able to make it up the stairs and hole himself in his room, the blonde woman started talking once again.

"Myrrha, could you come here for a moment?" she asked. Sighing slightly, Husky walked back down the stairs and sat on the couch, his aunt sitting in a chair a few feet away. "I talked to your father," she said softly.

"You said that already," he mumbled, still not feeling any better than how he had been in the car. Crystala just nodded though, not appearing fazed by his mood any.

"He told me what happened," she continued, almost as if he hadn't said anything. Husky had already figured that out a while ago though, and he also realized that he probably hadn't said it too freely. He could just imagine his aunt interrogating and not letting up until his dad told her everything. The silver boy wasn't really sure what the point of this conversation was, but decided to just nod. Even in his bad mood, he realized that the blonde woman was just trying to help him, like she usually was.

"And?" he asked, hoping that they would get to the point quickly. His mind was still torn between the situation at hand and wondering how Nana was fairing.

"I decided to move into town after hearing what happened to Dylana, to be closer to you boys," she said, and Husky wasn't really that surprised. "The new house is big enough for an extra person. You would still be able to go to the same school and see all your friends if you wished to move in." The silver boy's head shot up like a bullet at this. Sure, he kind of thought something like this might happen if he tried to run away or live at the church again, but just now out of the blue? And she said she'd talked to his father… So… he approved this? Just shipping him off again once he got too out of hand? That had not been how he thought it would go. He'd imagined that the man would at least try to keep control of his children. The first thing out of his mouth wasn't about his father though, and he managed to surprise himself slightly.

"What about Keane?" he asked. It wasn't hard to notice the sad look that went over her eyes. Maybe there had been some fighting about the living arrangements after all.

"Your father won't let me take both of you," she explained softly, and Husky nodded, understanding that much. "You would still be able to see him as much as you want to though," she said, but the silver boy shook his head. Maybe it was a bad idea, but he still didn't trust the redhead to look after himself, and with only their father around, that was what he would be doing.

"It's not that I don't want to," he started, looking around nervously, "but maybe in a few months or something? After everything's cooled down, if I still um, don't want to be here, or something," he mumbled. It really wasn't that he didn't want to. He couldn't exactly let Keane think that he was being abandoned by his aunt too or anything like that though, even if that obviously wasn't the case. According to what he said last night though, he didn't appear to think himself very high of their Father's charts either. Everything was still very sensitive, and he didn't want to offset what little balance was left. A bit surprisingly, the blonde woman simply nodded.

"I understand, but remember, the offer is always open if you ever decide to change your mind, and it doesn't have to be permanently. If you _ever _need a place to stay for a few nights," she said, and Husky nodded appreciatively. That was probably the only good news he had heard all day, and he was definitely willing to take it.

"Thanks," he said quietly, before standing up from the couch and stretching slightly. "I um, better get up stairs though. Homework and stuff," he said quickly, but before he was able to get away completely, Crystala stopped him once more.

"Myrrha," she said.

"Yeah?" the silver boy asked, looking back over at the older woman. He really didn't know what to expect for her to say next. Not after how their conversation had gone so far.

"Are you sure there isn't anything you need to tell me about your friends? I trust you to be intelligent enough to know when to tell someone if something unfortunate is going to happen," she asked, and Husky quickly nodded. He still didn't know what was happening, or what had happened, but hopefully it wouldn't be that way for too much longer. He didn't want to force anything out of the girl, but they needed to find out if it was safe for her. If it wasn't, then he would go to whoever he needed to in a heartbeat. That might mean forcing her to stay at the church, or going to his aunt for help. He just hoped that waiting until tomorrow wouldn't be waiting too long.

"Yeah, I'll tell you if it gets out of hand," he said, almost immediately realizing just how suspicious the way he had phrased that had been. "Uh, well, bye," he finished quickly, practically running up the rest of the stairs and shutting himself in his room before he could be stopped for a third time.

Flopping down on his bed, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. Hesitating for a moment, he decided to dial the church's number. If he just got it out of his system now, then maybe he won't feel as twitchy and everything for the rest of the day. Probably not, but he might be able to keep himself from trying to call Nana's house. He wasn't even sure if he had her number. Listening to the ringing on the other end, he couldn't help but this that it would be a lot easier if Cooro just had a cell phone of his own. That way, he wouldn't get all anxious whenever he needed to call him.

"Hello, St. John the Baptist Church, how may I help you?" Cooro's cheerful voice echoed over the telephone. Really, Husky had no clue how he could keep up such a joyful front. He didn't let the thought linger on his mind for too long before he answered.

"Hey Cooro," he said casually, figuring that the black haired boy would be able to recognize him without any introduction. There wasn't really too many other people he could be, after all.

"Oh hi Husky, everything okay?" Cooro asked, and Husky shrugged slightly.

"No clue. We dropped Nana off, but I wasn't able to see her go inside or anything. My aunt offered to let me move in with her, since she's getting a house in the neighborhood, but I said no," the silver boy quickly caught him up with everything that had happened since he'd been left at the church. Cooro nodded, although the last part confused him quite a bit.

"I hope she's okay. Why won't you move in with your aunt? You said you don't want to live at home, and she seems nice," he asked. Husky leaned against the wall and started to untie his shoes one handed as he responded.

"Don't want to leave Keane alone. She said that my dad won't let her take both of us. Not to mention, she'd actually pay attention to me, it wouldn't take long for her to notice the markings, and I don't want to have to try and explain that," he said calmly, and Cooro nodded. It made sense. Even though Husky had talked about how he and Keane used to fight a lot in the past, it was obvious how that must have changed. He still didn't think that it was a very good idea for Husky to stay there though, but it was true that it probably just as bad of an idea for Keane to be left alone. It didn't sit right with him that Husky was purposefully choosing to be neglected so that their secret would stay hidden, but it was the easiest way to keep everything under wraps, sadly.

"Oh, okay. What do you think we should do now then? I'm still worried about her…" Cooro said, and Husky nodded.

"I don't know. I don't want to force her to tell us anything, but I think we should try and see if it's actually safe for her to be there tomorrow when she comes to school… if she does," he answered, adding the last part quietly. If she didn't, then he didn't doubt that they would go to her house and try to drag her out of there instead.

"Yeah… that sounds like a good idea" the black haired boy said hesitantly. The two ended up talking for a little bit longer. They didn't really get anywhere, mostly just going over things they already knew they needed to do, but still had no idea on how to actually accomplish them. Once they hung up, Husky collapsed down onto his bed. That hadn't really gotten them anywhere, but it did kind of help him relax slightly. He still felt like his stomach was in knots, but he didn't feel like he was on the brink of an anxiety attack anymore.

Maybe he could just sleep until dinner was done. Of course, he didn't really know what or when that would even be. So far, it had just been a lot of fast food ever since he came back, and truthfully it was starting to make him feel sick to eat it. Closing his eyes, the silver boy tried to just block that from his mind. Maybe their dad would end up hiring a cook or something. Or Crystala would cook for them while she was here, although she might be heading back to her home soon. She had a family of her own, after all.

It wasn't long before he ended up falling to sleep. He really was tired from waking up so early after staying home for so long. He just hoped that after everything he'd been through for the past few days, he wouldn't have another dream.

Of course, whenever he hoped for something, it seemed that the opposite would end up happening.

* * *

Woo, done. So, about Nana's homecoming… yeah, what did you all think? I know it doesn't really… seem realistic, especially going by how her father was in the books. There were many plot and personal points as to why I had to have it that way though, so I hope no one minds. I know you were all expecting something a lot more explosive.  
Oh, and lastly, I started a new +anima fic, and I'm really, really excited about it. So far I only have the first chapter up, because of my computer problems, but I have sooo much planned out. This is going to be on the same level complex plot wise as this story, and I have the amazing author Kay Hau to thank for that. She's the one who first suggested the plot to me, and has been working with me to develop it all and is beta-ing the story as well. It's called Puppet Strings if anyone is interested, and is also an AU. Not modern day or anything like that, but well, I guess you can go read the summary if you want to know.

Well, I'll stop the shameless self-promotion now and just say thank you for reading and please review.


	43. Chapter 41

Hey everyone. Sorry about this chapter taking such a long time. Not only has my life been super busy as of late, but I've still haven't been able to get the files off of my old computer, so this chapter is actually a rewrite. It kind of sucks, since these chapters are so long, and I had three of them on my old computer, but I'm got going to wait around indefinitely for my dad to take the computer in and possibly get the files off. I'm just thankful I have a pretty good memory, so this should be more or less the same as what I wrote the first time.

Chapter 41

Husky's prediction had proven itself correct, and another dream had woken him up about halfway through the night. He hadn't been able to get back to sleep afterwards either. It was the same as the one he'd had in the park, with Senri sacrificing himself for the younger boy.

A shudder ran down Husky's back as images from the dream flashed through his mind once again. He hoped that anyone who saw would just blame it on the cold weather. He and Keane were walking to school right now, but they'd yet to make it to the church. The redhead had decided that he was well enough to going back once again, although Husky had a pretty good idea that a lot of it was because he had started to go back now. He guessed he couldn't really be 100% sure though, since Keane had started to act a lot better lately.

Once they reached the church, Cooro was waiting on the steps. Husky was just able to catch the melancholy expression on his face before the black haired boy spotted them. Before he was able to even register what had happened, that look was quickly replaced with an excited smile as Cooro jumped up from his spot to meet them.

The three didn't talk very much for the rest of the way. Cooro had asked Keane how he was doing with everything, and the redhead had told him that everything was going as well as he guessed it could be. Husky wasn't really sure if that was true or not, but seeing as how in the dark Keane really was about most of what was going on, he guessed that from his point of view it might be. That or he just didn't want to worry Cooro.

Once they reached the school Keane went off his separate way like usual and the two younger boys started towards their own lockers. Husky was trying to stuff a few binders into his book bag when he heard the black haired boy sigh in relief.

"Nana's here today," he said simply, and the other boy didn't need to ask him to know how he knew. Looking around, he didn't immediately see the brunette, but didn't let that bother him too much. For better or worse, he was coming to trust Cooro's strange extra sense.

"Good," he said simply. Zipping up his book bag, he quickly slung it over his shoulder and started to follow the black haired boy to wherever Nana was. She was putting a few things into her locker when they found her, so even without the powers it wouldn't have been a very hard search. Husky just pushed that to the back of his mind though when they went up to talk to her.

"Hi Nana," Cooro said happily, and Husky just nodded his greeting. The brunette girl turned towards the two and smiled, although Husky didn't know if he trusted whether or not that smile was genuine. It seemed real, but so did Cooro's smiles whenever he was upset. He didn't know if Nana was quite as good of an actor as Cooro could be, but he wasn't about to put it past her.

"Hey guys," she answered, shutting the crooked metal door to her locker. Taking a deep breath, Husky decided it would be best to just get straight to the point.

"So, how did everything, um, go? Last night, I mean," he said, trying not to sound too awkward about it. Besides him, he could tell that Cooro was automatically interested, but both boys stayed silent as they waited for the young girl to answer.

"It went well, actually. A lot better than I thought it would. My mom's still in the hospital, but we're going to visit her after school today," she explained. Before either of the two listening was able to say anything, Nana started talking once again. "Oh, I guess you guys would want to know why she was in the hospital in the first place…" she trailed off slightly. Husky was about to answer that yes, they would like to know, but Cooro started talking first, and had a slightly different response.

"You don't have to tell us anything that you're not comfortable with, as long as you're safe. Right, Husky?" he said. The silver boy started scratching the back of his head slightly. He wanted to disagree, but he guessed that Cooro kind of had a point. They didn't want to force anything out of her, and everyone had waited for him to explain his personal life at his own pace as well.

"Um, yeah, I guess," he managed after a small moment. Nana smiled at the two, but quickly shook her head.

"Thanks, but it's fine, really. She um, she tried to kill herself, I think. The doctors are going to get her help and everything though, and my dad said that things are going to be better from now on," she explained. Husky and Cooro both looked equally surprised by what she said, but just nodded all the same. They weren't really able to say anything else before the bell signaling class rang out, and they had to leave Nana once again.

The silver boy didn't really pay much attention to his classes. He still needed to make up the standardized testing he missed, but he was pretty sure that Mrs. Brighton might actually try to get him out of it. It wasn't like it was even worth anything towards his passing. Usually he hated it when people went out of their way for him, but right now he didn't really have the time of mind to care. If she did, then that just left him with more time to focus on other things for once.

The bell for lunch rang out after a few hours, and the two boys made their way to the cafeteria. It didn't take very long for Nana to arrive as well, sitting down across from the two and started to eat. The three didn't really say much at first, all unsure about how exactly to start off the conversation. Husky wanted to ask about what had happened at her house to make her mother want to commit suicide. There wasn't any way that everything was okay for something like that to happen. She was just lucky that her mother hadn't ended up like Dylana.

Of course, he had no way to really bring up that topic subtly. It wasn't like he could just ask, 'so, why did your mother try to kill herself?'

"So… why did your mom try to kill herself?" he heard himself saying, instantly cringing the second the words left his mouth. Why was he being such an idiot today? Needless to say, it quickly caught the attention of the other two, and the silver boy wished that he could just disappear on the spot. Nana just smiled at him though, but this time Husky could tell instantly that it was fake.

"It's um, complicated, I guess. Her and my dad used to fight a lot. Like I said though, it went better than I though, and my dad promised it would be okay, so you guys don't have to worry," Nana told them. Husky nodded, although he didn't believe that they shouldn't worry in the slightest. Before he was able to figure out whether or not to press her for more information though, the bell for class rang out.

When Nana turned down the hallway to head to her own class, Husky sighed.

"I don't like it," he said aloud. Cooro turned towards him in the crowded hallway, a look of confusion on his face.

"Don't like what?" he asked. The silver boy shrugged, trying to figure out how to put what he was thinking into words. Surely Cooro also found everything Nana was telling them, and everything she was leaving out, a bit unsettling.

"Everything with Nana, you know? When she first got her anima she said that it happened like mine. Not drowning, but you know. If the only thing that happened was her mom attempting suicide, that wouldn't have put Nana in any physical danger. She's not telling us something," he explained. Cooro nodded, although he kept silent for a few moments, clearing thinking everything he said over.

"I think we should watch her for now, but we shouldn't press her if she doesn't want to tell us something," he said at last. Husky frowned. Yeah, he got respecting her privacy, but if it was something that could put her in danger…

"But what if it's something important," he insisted. Cooro just shook his head though, surprising the other boy. He wasn't really used to Cooro fighting back.

"She said she's safe, so we should trust her," he said again.

"But-" Husky started, although he wasn't able to finish his thought, Cooro cutting him off.

"We should trust her," he repeated. Husky just nodded slightly and walked the rest of the way to their classroom silently before sitting down. He didn't think he'd ever heard Cooro cut someone off before. Why did he feel so strongly about this all of a sudden? The silver boy didn't know, but he did know that he wouldn't be able to ask Nana about her home life with Cooro around now.

Maybe he was right though. Maybe they should just trust her. If something really bad was going to happen, she would be smart enough to come to them for help, right? He knew how stubborn he could be able things like that though, and despite how much he didn't want to admit it, Cooro had been right with what he said on that first day he met her. They were a lot alike.

Once class ended, Husky still wasn't sure about what to do about Nana. Cooro had to have a reason for thinking they should leave her be, and he was usually right about these things. He couldn't help but think that they should know what happened to trigger the anima coming though. When it happened to him, he was traumatized. He was _still_ trying to get over it; he didn't believe Nana would have been able to be perfectly fine like she was pretending she was in only a few days.

Before he knew it, Cooro had gone inside at the church, and he and Keane were back home. Without a word to the redhead, Husky started up to his room, flopping down on his bed without even taking his shoes off.

There were so many things they had to deal with; he didn't know what to try to figure out first. He couldn't talk to Nana about her home with Cooro there now, and they still weren't a hundred percent sure what caused the animas to come in the first place. His life was still far from stable, and winter was coming soon. After all this time, they still weren't any closer to finding a place for Senri to stay. If they didn't do it soon, it would be snowing before they knew it.

The silver boy decided to try to go through any possible places they could put the teen. There was always the church, but that left a guilty feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was a small place, and not an actual orphanage or anything like that. Husky himself had already spent quite a while there using up their supplies, and he didn't want to send someone else there way, who would have to stay there for who knows how long.

Nana's house was out of the question. He didn't want _Nana_ staying at Nana's house.

Pushing himself back off of the bed, he wasn't really sure what he was doing. His house was pretty big though, and the only people he would have to worry about finding him would be his dad and Keane. His dad was never home, and if Keane did end up finding out, he would probably be able to get the redhead on his side if he explained everything. Well, not everything, but enough for him to understand the situation.

Going down the stairs, he heard Keane still messing around in the kitchen. Did they even have any food left? He hadn't really spent much time in the kitchen lately, but surely they had to be running out since the last time anyone had went to get some more. It was probably before Dylana had died. Maybe Crystala had gone shopping for them though. He just couldn't imagine his father doing something like that.

Before he was able to leave the redhead stuck his head out into the hallway, having heard Husky come down the stairs.

"Where you going?" he asked. Husky could remember the times the boy's mother had asked him that same question, but Keane didn't sound nearly as hostile or bitter, just curious. The silver boy shrugged, not about to tell him that he was going to go see if a homeless teenager would let him hide him in one of the spare rooms upstairs. That… would not go well.

"Just out, got my phone if you need anything," he said simply, and Keane nodded. Closing the door behind him, Husky started down the way to the park. He didn't know if Senri would be there, but it was the best idea he had. Cooro's tracking power really would have come in use at a time like this.

When he reached the park, he didn't see the grey haired teen at first. Frowning slightly, he tried to not let that get to him. After all, he might be in that little clearing he had shown them all that time ago. Starting towards the forest, the silver haired boy was just barely able to remember the exact way to the clearing.

After going down a few false paths, he managed to find the place he was looking for. He couldn't help but sigh in relief at the sight of the grey haired teen sitting in front of a small pot, stirring whatever was cooking inside. Husky was slightly impressed that Senri was able to start and then cook something on a fire, but he guessed that he would need to know how to do that if he was going to be able to live out here for as long as he had.

"Um, hey Senri," he said, taking a few steps into the clearing. The teen looked up at him and smiled, motioning for Husky to come sit down. A bit reluctantly, he complied, trying to tell himself the entire time that the guilt that flared up inside of him when he made eye contact with Senri was ridiculous.

There was no way that those dreams had ever actually happened. Senri had never died in a last ditch effort to save him.

Husky was knocked out of his musings by a wooden bowl hovering in front of him, filled with some of the soup that had been inside of the pot. Without a second thought he started shaking his head. There was no way he was going to take food from Senri. He highly doubted the teen had much to spare.

"No, that's fine. I'm not hungry," he said automatically. He wasn't really one for eating outside anyway, with all the bugs and dirt that was impossible to keep away. He'd never exactly liked barbeques or picnics very much because of that. The older boy started shaking his head this time though, apparently not taking that as an answer.

"Skinny," he insisted simply. It actually took a few seconds for what he meant to process in Husky's head, but when it did, he crossed his arms indignantly.

"W-well _yeah!_ But that doesn't mean I don't _eat!"_ he defended. Senri didn't lower the bowl any though, despite the way Husky frowned and glared at the soup. He wasn't _that _skinny. It did smell really good though, way better than the fast food and take out pizza he'd been eating lately.

Giving in with a huff, Husky grabbed the bowl and spoon out of the older teen's hands. If everything went well, he would be able to eat the food at his house anyway.

"Whoa, this is really good," he said after taking a bite. How did Senri cook so well with just a fire and a pot? The teen just smiled once again, starting to eat out of his own bowl. That made Husky feel a bit better about eating this, since at least he was too.

The two ate in silence for a few moments, and Husky tried to figure out how to word what he wanted to say. Senri had already denied an offer to stay at the church; Husky didn't know what he would have to do in order to convince the teen to stay with him instead.

"So… winter's coming soon," he said at last. The teen just nodded, and Husky figured that was about as good of an answer as he was going to get. "And you know… winter, it's uh… cold…" he stumbled out. Senri was smiling now, watching Husky with something the silver boy was pretty sure was close to amusement.

"Anyway," he started again, attempting to regain control, "you really shouldn't live out here for the winter, it's dangerous," he insisted. The teen seemed to think for a moment, before shrugging slightly.

"Done it before," he said simply. Husky frowned, not liking that response at all.

"What if it snows or something though? You could easily freeze to death," he countered. Senri just nodded again, but Husky was pretty sure that he was starting to break through to him a little. Just like Senri had done to him with the soup.

"Look, why don't you come back to my house? Just for the winter, so that you'll be safe. It's really big, and if we're good about it, no one will even know you're there," He offered. Senri looked around the small clearing, obviously thinking what he had said over. Husky rubbed his arms slightly; having finished his soup a while ago, and hoped that the late fall chill was affecting the teen as much as it was him. If it was, then he would definitely agree to come back with him.

After a few moments, Senri nodded. Husky wasn't able to keep the sigh of relief from escaping him, having been unsure of what else he could have done to try and convince the teen otherwise if he declined again.

Pushing himself off the log he'd been sitting on, he looked around the small clearing. There really wasn't that much there, between the two of them they would probably be able to carry everything to his house in one trip.

"Well then, I guess we can start getting your stuff together whenever you're ready," he said. It wasn't long at all before the two were going around the clearing, and managed to hold everything that the fifteen year old owned in the world in their arms. They started off towards Husky's house after that, and the silver boy dearly hoped that Keane had gone up to his room by now.

Well, at least he'd managed to solve one of their problems today. Even if he still didn't have any idea what to do about Nana, or Cooro now that he was acting strange about it all. He could tell them tomorrow, and maybe between the three of them they could figure out a more permanent solution. It wasn't like Senri could spend the rest of his life hiding away in one of Husky's spare rooms, after all.

And now he didn't owe the teen anymore either. The second that thought had crossed his mind, Husky attempted to get rid of it. He never owed him for anything. Well, there was when Senri had saved him from being attacked that night. Yeah, he definitely owed him for that. Husky would have been attacked and maybe killed or who knows what else if it wasn't for him.

That was what he owed the teen for though, not because of some dream that never really happened. If that wasn't true, then there was no way that he could ever repay Senri for what he'd done. Nothing he could ever say or do would be enough for laying down his life. That was a whole new level of guilt, and it wasn't something Husky thought he could ever deal with.

* * *

And yes, it's done. Again! You know, it is slightly different from what I had before, but I think it might be better this time around. Everything that had happened still happened. And look everyone, it's Senri! Hurray for Senri finally getting some focus!

Husky's going back to his old coping mechanism again. When one problem gets too tough, move onto the next one.

Anyway, I hope you all liked the chapter, please review and tell me what you think.


	44. Chapter 42

Hello peoples. Time for new chapter one again. Once again this is a rewrite of one of the chapters lost on my old computer, but even if I was able to get the old ones off I would have to rework them with the way the last chapter ended. Somehow I ended up cutting off the final scene, since it was a lot longer than it originally was. Anyway, here's the next chapter, I'll stop ranting now.

Chapter 42

Husky peaked into the front door of his house, making sure that Keane was no where in sight. He'd already been a bit lucky, and neither his father's or aunt's cars had been in the driveway, so the only one left to worry about was his brother. Giving a small sigh of relief, he didn't see the redhead anywhere, and motioned for Senri to follow him inside.

The two quickly made their way up the stairs, and Husky started headed down one of the hallways that hardly anyone ever used. Picking a spare room at random, he went inside. Once Senri was in as well, he shut the door with his foot and dropped the items in his arms to the ground.

"Ah, what the-?" he asked in between bouts of coughs. Flipping on a light switch he tried to wave away the cloud of dust in front of him. Whoa, it didn't seem like anyone had been in here in a really long time. Looking over, he saw Senri place the items he held down a bit softer than the silver boy had, before sitting down on the old looking bed.

"Well, it's kind of dusty, but that just means there's a really low chance of anyone actually coming in here and finding you," he said, and the older teen simply nodded, looking around the room blankly. Husky scratched the back of his head and started kicking at the ground, unsure of what to do next. It was… hard, talking to Senri. He seemed nice and all, and had saved him before, but that didn't make it any easier. It was hard for the boy to talk to people who were extroverted, let alone even more quiet than he was.

"Um, I guess we should try to clean up this place a bit then," he mumbled, and the two started cleaning. There wasn't really anything wrong with the room besides the dust, and the silver boy started coughing harshly whenever it was disturbed around him. Finally Senri put a hand of his shoulder after a particularly bad fit, clearly wishing for him to stop.

"I'm fine," he said, but the teen just stared at him skeptically. Sighing, Husky decided that he guessed it would be okay if he stopped. The dust didn't seem to effect Senri as badly as it did him anyway. "Okay, you win. Well, the only other person here right now is my brother, Keane, but try not to let him see you, okay? If you need anything come straight to my room. I have to go to school tomorrow, but the house should be empty then, so you'll be able to go around as you like. Try to be back in here by 2:30 though, okay?" he explained. Senri nodded, but Husky kind of doubted that he fully understood everything he had said.

"I'll remind you in the morning before I leave…" he decided. Senri didn't seem to mind this, simply nodding once again.

When he left the room, Husky sighed and leaned against the closed door. So far, so good he guessed. As long as no one found the teen, he'd be safe for the winter. It wasn't like his dad ever came upstairs anyway, and his aunt couldn't come around all the time.

Walking towards his room, he decided once again that the only person he really had to worry about finding anything out was Keane. It probably wouldn't be that hard to keep a secret from the redhead, anyway. He was already keeping a bunch, actually.

"Oh, there you are Myrrha. Everything okay?" the silver boy tried not to jump in surprise at the sound of his brother's voice. He wasn't entirely successful, but quickly tried to put it off as nothing.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" he asked, and Keane shrugged, looking him over a bit skeptically.

"I don't know, just making sure…" the redhead mumbled. Husky didn't say anything else as he walked past the older boy and into his room. Stopping in his door, he turned back, a thought striking him.

"Let me know when dinner's done. Do you have any idea what it's going to be, anyway? You were in the kitchen, and I'm tired of fast food," he asked. Keane gave him a sympathetic smile, but shrugged to show that he probably didn't have any more of a clue than Husky did.

"No, it's pretty empty in there. We should ask Aunt Crystala to take us to the store or something next time she visits, but yeah, we're probably gonna have take out or pizza or something again, sorry," the redhead explained. Husky sighed, but nodded. It wasn't like Keane could do anything about it after all.

"Okay, thanks anyway," he said, actually going all the way into his room this time and closing the door behind him.

Well, at least today had been kind of productive with getting Senri into someplace safe. Even if he was starting to wonder if this had really been the best idea in the world. He probably should have talked it over with Cooro and Nana beforehand, but they were both acting so weird all of a sudden. He guessed Nana acting weird made sense, but actually it was the fact that she seemed so normal that was freaking him out.

Collapsing onto his bed, he kicked his shoes off and stared up at the ceiling. He would tell them both about Senri tomorrow at school.

The next morning Husky had made sure to repeat to Senri at least ten times what time he and Keane were going to be back, and so he had to be in his room again by then. He wasn't entirely sure if the teen understood him, but the only thing he could do now was hope that he did. Keane had seemed a bit confused about what had taken him so long this morning, but the silver boy didn't say anything.

When they met up with Cooro Husky's mind was still on the grey haired teen and just how to tell the other's about what he'd done. It shouldn't be as hard as he was making it out to be, but once Keane had left them to go to the middle school section Husky kept quiet. It would probably be a better idea to explain it when both Nana and Cooro were there and he had enough time to go over everything… Lunch, he'd tell them at lunch.

Once lunch time finally did come around the silver boy felt those words dying in his throat. This might have been a very, very stupid idea, but it wasn't like he could go back on it now. He'd promised Senri he could stay at his house for the winter, and he kind of doubted that they would be able to find another place for him to live even if he did tell the others. They hadn't been able to before, so he didn't see why things would have changed now that he'd finally did something about it.

"Hey, Husky? Are you okay?" Cooro asked, breaking the younger boy out of his thoughts. He quickly nodded, swallowing the handful of stale chips before answering.

"Yeah, I'm fine, why?" he asked back, and the black haired boy shrugged.

"You've just been kind of quiet today," he answered. Nana nodded in agreement and Husky wondered if he should just get it over with and tell them. It wasn't like he'd even did anything bad, he just went and got Senri out of the cold. Something told him that they wouldn't really like the fact that he had acted on his own about this though.

"It's nothing. Just didn't get much sleep last night," he said, and reluctantly the other two let the topic drop. What he said was kind of true though, he'd been up most of the night worried that somehow Keane would end up waking up and finding Senri. He didn't know why or how that would happen, but knowing his luck he would, and would then run and proceed to call the cops.

Lunch had ended before he'd been able to get up the courage to tell the two, and soon the bell for school as a whole to end rang out. Today had not gone very well. He hadn't gotten any chance to talk to Nana alone, which he was becoming more and more certain he needed to do, and he hadn't told either of them about Senri. He couldn't now either, because they'd already met up with Keane and were about to leave the school yard.

"Hey…" Husky said quietly, making a split second decision. He seemed to be doing that a lot recently, with what he'd done yesterday and now. "I'll meet you back home, I need to take care of something real quick," he said to the redhead. Keane nodded, but looked a bit confused none the less.

"Okay, I'll see ya then…" he said.

"Do you want me to come?" Cooro asked, and reluctantly Husky shook his head. The whole reason he was doing this was because Cooro thought it was a bad idea to try to talk to Nana about what was going on in the first place. There was no way he could have him tag along, no matter how suspicious it had to look.

"No, it's fine. I'll see you tomorrow," he said. The black haired boy stared at him for a moment, clearly trying to figure out what it was he planned on doing, before finally nodding.

"I'll call you later," he said at last, and Husky nodded before starting back into the school. That hadn't gone quite as well as he would have wanted it to, but there wasn't really anything he could do about that.

He just hoped that Nana was still in the building, or else all of this would have been a waste.

Cooro and Keane started back towards their own homes, neither one saying anything for a moment. Finally Cooro decided to break the silence. It wasn't that he was trying to pry into Husky's business, but he wanted to know if this had something to do with their powers, or if he just needed to stay after for some normal reason and had almost forgotten about it.

"So, why did Husky need to stay after school?" he asked. Keane sent him a look of confusion before answering.

"Wait, you mean you didn't know?" he asked, and the younger boy shook his head. "Oh, I just assumed you did, since Myrrha tells you everything. I don't have any idea what he's doing." the redhead explained. Cooro wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. Husky didn't tell him _everything. _Of course, he had said that he and Keane hadn't gotten along much in the past, and so maybe it really did seem like that to the redhead.

"Just because we're friends doesn't mean he tells me everything. You're his brother, he probably tells you just as much," Cooro said, although as those words left his mouth he realized he was kind of lying. Husky couldn't tell Keane as much, since they weren't able to tell him about the dreams or animas or any of that stuff. The older boy simply shrugged though, not appearing to realize that.

"Maybe… hey, if he does tell you if something's wrong, do you think you could let me know? He's been acting pretty twitchy since yesterday, and with everything that's happened since the funeral…" Keane trailed off. Cooro immediately nodded, although he wasn't actually sure how much he would be able to explain to him if Husky did end up coming to him. If it was something about their powers or he'd been having more dreams, there wasn't anything he could give the redhead details on, but there wasn't any way he could tell the worried boy that he wouldn't let him know if something was wrong with his little brother.

"Of course, I'm sure he'll tell me what's going on eventually," he said happily.

"Yeah, he'll tell _you,_" the redhead mumbled under his breath. Cooro frowned slightly, but didn't say anything. He'd already lied to Keane once today after all, and he was right. "But you'll tell me, so it'll be okay," he finished, and once again the black haired boy nodded reluctantly.

It wasn't that he wanted to keep Keane in the dark about everything. He seemed really nice, and he obviously cared about Husky. It would just be better for him if he didn't have to deal with any of this. Maybe one day they could tell him, but not right now, when he was still getting over the death of his mother and dealing with a father who only seemed to neglect them both.

When they got to the church, Cooro quickly said goodbye before heading around back and going up to his room. Now, he just had to wait a while before calling Husky and figuring out just what was going on. Keane had said that he'd been acting twitchy since yesterday, and the silver boy had been strangely quiet all day as well. Combining all that with the way he'd randomly went back to school without them, Cooro was most certainly worried.

All he could do right now was wait though.

Husky breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Nana walking away from her locker down the hallway. Quickening his pace, he made sure to catch up with her before she made it out of sight.

"Nana!" he called, quickly catching the brunette's attention and causing her to turn around. The look of confusion on her face was clear as she waited for him to catch up with her before starting to ask what was going on.

"Hey, I thought you'd left already. Where's Cooro?" she asked, looking behind the silver boy as if she expected him to pop out of nowhere. Husky just shrugged, not entirely sure how to start off the conversation now that he'd finally gotten the chance to.

"He went home," he said simply, not able to think of anything else. Nana raised an eyebrow at him, even more confused now than she had been before.

"Okay… so, did you need something, or…?" she trailed off, messing with the straps of her book bag. Sighing, Husky decided to just get straight to the point. He wasn't really good at being subtle or beating around the bush anyway.

"Look, whatever it is you're playing at is just as bad as when Keane tried to come to school after what happened to Dylana. Only you're better at it, since Keane can't hold his emotions in, let alone act, to save his life," he said bluntly. Nana frowned, but she didn't really seem upset yet, more like annoyed. Truthfully, Husky didn't know if that was a good or bad thing, but he was suddenly very fearful of the chance that Nana could end up crying or something like that. He was _not _good with crying girls.

"What are you talking about? I'm not playing at anything. You're the one who's been acting strange all day," she countered. Even though neither noticed at the moment, the two children would both be glad later on that the hallway was now empty.

"_You_ were the one who said that your anima came like mine did. Has it even been a week since that happened? There's no _way _you're as fine as you're pretending you are!" he said.

"Well _you _don't know what happened! I'm fine now, so there's nothing you need to worry about," she said, but Husky only rolled his eyes in response. He'd heard that one before, that was for sure.

"Exactly! I don't know what happened, and so you think I'm going to believe that everything instantly got better when you went home? There's no freaking way!" he yelled. Nana was practically glaring daggers into his skull at this point.

"This has _nothing _to do with you Husky! Just leave me alone, okay. I can deal with my life by myself!" she growled, spinning on her heels and started down the hallway. She wasn't able to get very far before the silver boy was yelling after her.

"You are such a hypocrite!" he practically screeched, catching her attention once again and causing the brunette to turn back around.

"What are you talking about?" she asked again, and Husky rolled his eyes as he tried to remember exactly what she had said the other night.

"_Why Husky, huh? Why have you decided now that you want to be all alone? We just want to help, so why wont you let us?"_ he asked, intimidating the girl's voice as best as he could. It wasn't very well, mostly just a high pitched version of her own, but it got his point across quite clearly.

"T-this is different," Nana defended, although she sounded much less sure of herself than before. Husky just rolled his eyes, crossing his arms as he did so.

"Really? Doesn't seem that way to me," he said. The brunette didn't say anything, and Husky was pretty sure that he'd as good as won this argument. Sure, he'd had to use her own reasoning against her, but he had still managed to do it.

"Now, seriously, what's up?" he asked, losing much of the anger in his voice from before. Nana started kicking at the tiled floor, although it didn't really look like she was going to fight back much anymore.

"Since when did even start caring about stuff like this anyway?" she asked, in a last ditch effort to get him to drop the subject that obviously wasn't going to work.

"Since you all decided that we're friends," he said simply, waiting for her to just get on with it and tell him what was going on. Sighing, he guessed she'd finally decided that he wasn't going to let her get out of this now.

"I didn't lie to you guys. Everything I told you _did _happen," she said, and Husky nodded. He never thought that.

"Yeah, but you didn't tell us everything that had happened, either," he countered, and reluctantly the girl nodded.

"I guess… Um, well, my mom tried to uh… kill me," she mumbled quietly, and slowly the silver boy nodded. He wished he could say that he was surprised, but since she'd said it's happened like him, he'd expected something like this. Nana quickly started speaking again, "She's not abusive or anything like that though! She was just really depressed, it wasn't like D-" she quickly cut herself off, but Husky just rolled his eyes.

"Dylana? You can say her name, relax," he said, trying his best to sound nonchalant. Nana simply nodded, and Husky sighed once again. "So, your mom, she's getting help now?" he asked.

"Yeah, the doctors said she should be able to come home soon, but she's gonna have to keep going to therapy and stuff. That's a good thing though," she said, and Husky nodded in agreement. "I _told _you guys it was getting better," she repeated, and the silver boy crossed his arms once again, although he didn't really seem as mad as he was letting on.

"Whatever. You're still putting on a tough act, but I'm not about to pretend that I understand girls," he grumbled. This time Nana was the one to roll her eyes, but much of the tension between the two had dissolved almost completely.

"Um, we should probably get out soon before some janitor comes and asks what we're still doing here," the brunette said after a moment, and Husky nodded in agreement. The two started out of the building, passing by several groups of students still in the lobby waiting for their parents to pick them up or after school clubs.

"So," Nana started, "why didn't Cooro come with you to do this?" she asked, and Husky shrugged. He'd almost forgotten about Cooro. The older boy had said that he'd call him later today, probably to figure out why he'd come back to school all alone. That was not something he was looking forward to.

"He thought it was a better idea to just trust you and wait for you to tell us anything else in your own time, and normally I'd just let him decide these sort of things, but that didn't really seem like the smartest move," he explained. The young girl nodded, and Husky kicked at the ground lightly. "He actually doesn't know I came here to do this, so he's probably really confused."

"What, did you just ditch him?" she asked, sounding shocked and slightly angry. The silver boy instantly started shaking his head, a bit peeved that she would even assume he'd do that.

"Of course not! I told him and Keane that I needed to go back to school, and that I'd see Keane at home. Cooro even said that he'd call me later, although that was probably because he was so confused when I said he didn't need to come," Husky defended himself.

"Oh, okay, that's a lot better," she said. Husky swore he was going to get dizzy if he kept rolling his eyes like this. "So, is there anything else that's been causing you to act all quiet today, or was it just this?" Nana asked. The silver boy frowned.

"I haven't been acting quiet," he knew that was a lie though, and he didn't think someone could look more skeptical than Nana did at the moment.

"Seriously? You barely said two words all day," she said, and Husky reluctantly agreed that she was kind of right. Well, he'd managed to get this whole thing sorted out, might as well just tell her about Senri as well. He could tell Cooro when he called later.

"Well actually," he started, clearly taking the girl by surprise, "I found a place for Senri to stay for the winter. Wasn't sure if you two would get upset that I went and did it on my own or not," the silver boy said. Nana looked extremely surprised, but quickly shook her head.

"Well, that was random, but great. Sure, we would have _preferred _that you told us first, but it's just good that he's out of the cold now. Where's he staying?" she asked, and Husky took in a deep breath. So far, so good, but this was the part where his genius plan started to sound quite a bit less genius.

"Um, hiding in one of the spare rooms at my house?" he practically asked. Nana stopped in her tracks, staring at the boy across from her like he was absolutely insane.

"What?" She shrieked, and Husky quickly started waving his arms in front of himself as he tried to explain it a bit better.

"It's _not _as bad as it sounds! My house is really big, there are rooms no one has gone into for years! Plus, it's only me, my dad and Keane, and my dad's never home. The only one we'd have to worry about is Keane, and that's _Keane_! If he does find out, I'm sure he'll calm down once I explain the situation," he defended, and very reluctantly Nana started to nod.

"Okay… okay. I still think you're _crazy_, but I guess it's the best thing we can come up with for now. We really do need to find something more permanent though," she said, and Husky instantly agreed.

"Of course we do, but the weather's not going to wait for us," he declared. Soon, the two were at the part where Nana had to turn off to go to her own house, and separated.

Well, that had been kind of strange. Husky had to admit that it could have gone much, much worse. Now, he just had to figure out what to say when Cooro called him, and he'd have almost all of his immediate problems out of the way. Or at least, the ones he was letting himself focus on, the ones that had to do with his friends. Anything considering his family could be put on hold. He wasn't in the mood to deal with any of that.

Once his street came into view, the silver boy started to wonder if Senri had remembered what he said, and went back into the spare room before Keane got home. If not, he would probably find the redhead barricaded in his room, calling the police while Senri wondered around with absolutely no idea what he'd done wrong to scare the kid.

Gulping slightly, Husky started walking a bit faster. He did _not _want to have to explain that to the police, that was for sure.

* * *

Yes, finished! Gosh, a lot of stuff happened in this chapter, didn't it? Senri get's settled in, Keane's starting to realize that he might just be locked out of some sort of loop, Cooro's seriously confused, Nana and Husky have an epic argument, and Husky finally tells someone that he's hiding Senri in his house. Hooray for productivity!

Well, I hope you liked this jam-packed (in my mind) chapter, and please review.


	45. Chapter 43

Hey peoples. I managed to find some time to write the next chapter, mainly because I stayed home sick from school today. Oh well, at least I used the time for something kind of productive. Well, I should be studying since my AP exams are coming up all too fast, but I don't… want to… yeah… Anyway, new chapter now, so I'll be quiet.

Chapter 43

Husky very slowly started into his house, listening for the sounds of anyone panicking or trying to board themselves into a room. Much to his relief, he was just met with silence, and closed the front door behind him with a thankful sigh.

Before he was able to reach the stairs so that he could check on Senri, the sight of red-ish orange out of the corner of his eye caused him to turn around. He quickly caught sight of Keane now standing in the room, a slightly befuddled expression on his face. Not freaked out like he found a stranger in their house, just confused, like he couldn't figure out why the television wouldn't turn on.

"Hey Myrrha. You get… what ever it was you needed to get done, done?" the slightly older boy asked, and he nodded.

"Yeah," he answered plainly, not about to go into any details on the matter. Before Keane could try to ask him more about it, the silver boy quickly decided it'd be best for him to change the subject.

"Everything okay? You look confused," he asked. Keane started to nod, before stopping himself and glancing back towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just… I think Aunt Crystala must have stopped by earlier or something," he said, although there was a bit of uncertainty still left in his voice. Husky just raised an eyebrow, trying to keep the slight panic inside of him from showing. What if she'd came while Senri was still out and walking around? That would _not _have ended well. Starting towards the kitchen, he managed to keep himself from appearing too freaked out.

"What, do we have food now?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant about the whole thing, but still interested. The silver boy glanced around the large room once he stepped inside, trying to find anything immediately odd or out of place. Once again, Keane started to nod before cutting himself off.

"Yes. Well, no. _Kind of_," he stumbled, causing the silver boy to become almost as confused as he was. His brother was not making any sense now.

"How do we 'kind of' have food?" he asked, turning back towards Keane without bothering to look in any of the cabinets or fridge. The redhead just started over towards the stove, picking up a spoon and stirring the content of a pot Husky hadn't noticed before.

"Someone made… soup I think, while we were at school. There's nothing else here though, so it was just weird. You'd think Aunt Crystala would leave a note or something," he explained. Husky wasn't able to keep the look of slight fear and realization off of his face as just _who _had left the pot of food there dawned on him. Luckily, Keane was still messing with the soup, leaving the younger boy enough time to pull himself back together without his noticing.

"Y-yeah, that is really weird," he mumbled, hoping he didn't notice the way he stuttered slightly. Keane nodded absently before turning back towards him.

"Well, I guess we can just ask her about it next time she stops by," he said at last, attempting to shrug off the strange happening. "It's good though, you should eat some. You said you were tired of fast food anyway," he finished, and reluctantly Husky nodded. At least Keane wasn't pressing it right now. Maybe he'd forget about it by the time Aunt Crystala did visit again.

Grabbing a bowl, the redhead had gone off to his room before Husky had finished heating up the soup in the microwave. Food in hand, the silver boy started up the stairs and immediately towards the room where he hoped to find the strangely silent teen. It was a bit hard opening the door with his hands full, but once he did he couldn't help but sigh in relief at seeing Senri seated on the bed.

"Hey," he started, shutting the door with his foot and starting over towards a small chair that was pushed into the corner of the room. "You made this?" he asked, lifting the bowl up slightly so that the other boy could get a better look at it. Husky was not surprised once Senri nodded, instead just sighing slightly and eating a spoonful as he tried to think of what to say next.

It wasn't like he could tell him _not _to eat or cook while he wasn't there, and truthfully, he was kind of thankful that he had. Sure, he had no idea where Senri'd managed to find the ingredients or had he any clue what was actually in the soup, but it was a lot better than what he had been eating lately. He highly doubted Keane would start complaining about food randomly appearing for them anyway.

Get increasingly freaked out and probably start blaming it on ghosts or the like? Maybe. But complain, probably not.

"Thanks," he mumbled at last, to which Senri just nodded. It wasn't long before Husky had finished the rest of the bowl and stood up once again. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cell phone. It was almost four o'clock, he was kind of surprised Cooro hadn't tried to call him yet.

"Um, I'm gonna go back to my room, if it's okay. Everything's good for you in here so far?" he asked, taking another sweep of the old room. It seemed that the older boy had managed to get rid of most if not all of the dust, but there wasn't really much in here for him to do, really. Once again Senri just shook his head, though. A small smile was on his face, so Husky guessed that it must not be too bad for him. He had to tell himself that it was probably better than having to live outside in the cold, after all.

"Okay, see ya," he said, starting out of the room now and heading towards his own. This time, he was actually able to make it without being interrupted.

Once inside, Husky halfheartedly did some of the school work he'd missed during his long absence. Mainly, he was just waiting for Cooro to call him already, trying to think of what to say and how to say it so that the older boy wouldn't get upset with what he'd done. Once again he had to remind himself that nothing bad had come from it, so there was no reason to be so worried.

Plus, this was _Cooro. _It wasn't like he exactly had much of a temper.

Finally about fifteen minutes later the silver boy was jolted up by the sound of his cell phone ringing. Quickly checking the id, he saw that it was indeed the number of the small church his friend called home.

"Hello?" he asked, wondering slightly what the other boy had been doing all of this time. Of course, he might have just been waiting in order to make sure that Husky would have been able to answer his phone and not end up interrupting whatever it was he'd been doing back at school. He hadn't exactly told the other boy how long it would have taken him, after all.

"Hiya Husky! Everything okay?" Cooro's ever cheerful voice asked over the phone. The silver boy nodded by instinct, deciding while he was doing so that it would probably be best for both of them to just get straight to the point.

"Yeah, it's fine. You wanted to know why I stayed after school, right?" he asked. He was slightly surprised by the small moment of silence that occurred next, followed by Cooro's much more subdued than normal answer.

"Mmhmm," he basically hummed. "Sorry…" the black haired boy said quietly afterwards, confusing Husky to no end.

"What? Why are you sorry?" he asked, but didn't actually give Cooro any time to answer before he continued speaking, "I wanted to go talk to Nana. I know you said it'd be better to just trust her, but I was…" the silver boy trialed off, not entirely sure on the word he wanted to use. He'd long since stopped trying to pretend that he didn't care about what happened to the annoying girl, but admitting that to other people was something he wasn't all too comfortable with yet.

"Worried," he finished at last, figuring that he owed Cooro the truth. Husky didn't say anything else after that, simply waiting to hear what the other boy had to say.

"Oh. Husky, you didn't have to sneak away from me if you were _that _worried about her," he said after a moment, unknowingly causing his friend to turn slightly red in embarrassment.

"I-I wasn't _that-_ I mean, you just seemed so convinced everything was fine, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask one more time, and… um…" he floundered slightly. Despite how annoying it was, he couldn't help but he a bit relieved when he heard Cooro giggling on the other end of the line. People who are upset or angry with you don't normally giggle.

"Okay, okay. Is everything alright with her though? I still don't think Nana would have lied to us, but I can see why you were so concerned," the black haired boy asked. For a moment, Husky wasn't entirely sure how much he should tell Cooro about what the brunette had said to him, but decided that anything he did end up saying was justifiable.

"Yeah, well, sorta. She didn't lie, but she didn't tell us everything either. She _had _been in serious danger when she got her anima, but her mom is getting help now, like she said. So, it should be safe for her at her house, but we definitely need to keep an eye on her," he explained, purposefully not going into too much detail, but not so much that Cooro wouldn't be able to connect the dots.

On the other end of the line the older boy nodded, starting to get a slightly clearer idea of what might have happened that day at Nana's house.

"Okay. At least she should be alright now," he said, and Husky agreed, although he still wasn't too sold on the whole 'everything is better now' thing. He was speaking from experience, too.

"Oh, right," the silver boy mumbled under his breath, the other issue that he needed to talk to Cooro about resurfacing in his mind. Taking a breath, he didn't even try to imagine what the other boy's reaction would be.

"Also, Senri's staying at my house. Temporarily or something, until we can find another place for him, since it's getting cold and we didn't really seem to be getting any other ideas. Sorry for not telling you sooner, but it was just yesterday, so yeah," he said rather quickly. It actually took a few seconds for the information to process in Cooro's head and he was able to react.

"Husky, you shouldn't keep running off to do things on your own. At least Senri is somewhere safe now though, but you should really talk to us first," he said, and reluctantly the silver boy nodded. Yeah, he'd already came to that conclusion a while ago, but at least Cooro didn't seem too upset on the matter. The most important thing was that Senri is safe now, after all.

Cooro blinked slightly as the timeframe that Husky had said he'd brought the teen to his house clicked in his head.

"Keane doesn't know that you're hiding him, does he?" the black haired boy asked, figuring that he might have just found the reason for Husky being all 'twitchy' since yesterday, as Keane had called it.

"No, he doesn't know, why?" the younger boy asked, and Cooro just shrugged slightly.

"He was just worried about you on the way home, and said you've been acting weird since yesterday," he explained. Husky sighed, but nodded in appreciation at the knowledge. Okay, so Keane was a little bit suspicious of him, but he was starting to get slightly less paranoid that someone was going to find Senri, or at least, he was telling himself that he was. Hopefully the redhead would just shrug it off like he had the soup after a while.

"Oh, thanks for telling me. Don't worry, he shouldn't find out, and even if he does, it should be okay once I explain everything to him," he said, and Cooro agreed.

"Well yeah," the silver boy started again, "that's about everything I needed to tell you. Everything's still okay on your end?" he asked. The other boy thought for a moment before answering.

"Yep, no new dreams or anything. Maybe now that we've all got our animas, things will start to slow down," he said. Husky wasn't too sure on how realistic that might be, but agreed with him all the same before saying goodbye. They _needed_ things to slow down a bit, after all. Sure, they were still holding on, but just barely it seemed.

It was around six o'clock when Husky heard the front door open and the sound of his aunt calling for him and Keane. Pushing the book in his lap to the side, the silver boy started out of his room and down the stairs. To his slight relief, she was alone once again, having appeared to left her daughter at home.

He wondered slightly if Crystala was comfortable leaving Daisy alone so much, but quickly remembered that she wouldn't have actually been alone. He was always forgetting that his aunt's fiancé, some guy named Ed had moved in with her a little while ago. He didn't really know much about him, but quickly dismissed the thoughts as Keane started down the stairs as well and Crystala started speaking.

"I brought some groceries for you boys, it seemed like you've been running low on food. They're in the car, would you help me get them?" she asked, and both brothers immediately nodded.

They were grabbing bags out of the trunk when Keane started talking. Husky tried to hide the way he cringed with the realization that the redhead had not forgotten about the strange pot of food from before.

"Thanks for making us that soup earlier. It was a lot better than fast food," he said earnestly, not noticing the look of confusion that passed over the older woman's face at first. The silver boy silently placed his bags on the counter as he waited for his aunt to respond.

"What do you mean dear? I didn't bring over any soup," she asked. The surprised expression that passed over Keane's face was quickly covered up as he started shaking his head, pointing over to the pot still sitting on the stove. There was a bit left of the strange meal left inside, as if just to taunt them that they hadn't been hallucinating the whole thing.

"_That _soup. It was here when we got home from school today. You didn't make it?" he asked, still sounding more befuddled than actually scared. Of course, Husky couldn't imagine why someone would be afraid of a person who broke in only to give them a delicious meal, so his reaction made sense. Aunt Crystala just shook her head though, walking over to the pot as if to make sure what he was saying was true.

"I didn't make this. It was just here when you boys got home?" she asked, and both boys nodded.

"Maybe dad made it," Husky found himself saying, almost instantly regretting it afterwards. Sure, his aunt seemed slightly surprised at the suggestion, mostly that it seemed to be the only logical one left. The main reason he wanted to take it back though was because Keane shot him a look as if he'd suggested that the soup fairies must have taken pity on them. Before the redhead could say anything Husky quickly shrugged, trying to play it off like it was nothing.

"Unless you have some other explanation," he said coolly. Keane stared at him for a moment before sighing and turning towards the groceries to start putting items that needed to be in the fridge and freezer away without another word.

"Yeah, sure. _Dad _must have cooked it," he muttered under his breath, shoving some milk into the fridge with a bit more force than was really necessary. Husky and his aunt stared at the boy for a moment before moving to help him with the rest of the food.

It didn't take very long between the three of them to put everything in its proper place, and Husky couldn't help but feel better now that they had some actual food around. He'd assumed that his aunt was going to leave after that, but instead the older woman started to put the remains of the strange soup away before saying that she was going to cook them some dinner. Both brothers quickly thanked her, although they weren't too surprised by the fact that she was helping them.

"I'll be upstairs, homework. Call me when dinner's done," the redhead said after a moment, leaving the room immediately afterwards and starting up the stairs. It was the first thing that he had said since talking about the soup besides thanking Crystala.

The blonde woman didn't say anything until after she just faintly heard the sound of an upstairs door closing.

"So, Myrrha, how has everything been?" she asked, not turning around while she breaded a few strips of chicken. The silver boy just shrugged, sitting on the edge of the counter as he watched her. He wasn't exactly sure if that was allowed, probably not, since the granite tops were sure to be expensive, but his aunt didn't say anything about it.

"Um, alright I think," he said after a moment. He was more certain that Nana was kind of safe, at least for the moment, and they had food now. Senri had yet to be found. Nothing else seemed to matter.

"And Keane?" she asked, causing the young boy to be silent as he thought. _That _was something he was suddenly unsure about. He had thought that the redhead was doing better since the funeral. The way that he'd gotten angry at even the slightest mention of their father just now was… Husky wasn't sure what it was, but he knew his aunt noticed it too. That was probably why she was asking this now.

"I don't know," he said at last, truthfully. "I _thought _he was doing better, but… I guess he's just still really mad at dad," he finished at last. That was the only thing he could really think of to get the older boy to act that way. He wasn't even sure what he'd done to get Keane angry, but he doubted that the redhead would be happy about them trying to pry.

"I see…" Aunt Crystala said calmly. She seemed to think about something for a moment, and so the silver boy didn't expect her next question.

"And are you?" she asked, surprising Husky a bit. It didn't take him very long to think about the answer though, his head nodding almost as soon as he realized what she was asking. He hadn't actually seen his father since the night of the funeral after he locked himself in his room, but that did not mean that he'd gotten over any of the rage.

"Yeah," he told her plainly. Watching the woman as she placed the chicken into the oven, he pushed himself off the counter and onto the floor.

"I need to go get some homework done too. Thanks again for cooking for us," he said, and Crystala nodded at him.

"I'll call you both down once it's finished," she said, and Husky nodded in appreciation before starting out of the room. It wasn't long before he was in his own room once again, lying on his bed and not actually doing any homework like he'd said he needed to.

Keane would be fine, there wasn't any reason for him to be worried about the redhead. Husky definitely understood how he could be angry at their dad, after all, even if he hadn't expected the mention of him to tick the older boy off like it had.

Maybe Cooro was right, and things _would _start to calm down a bit now that they all had their animas. If they just kept having dreams, he could deal with that. Those didn't actually do anything to harm them. It was only when those dreams started leaking into the real world did everything start to go sour.

It was a bit surprising that he still had the ability to hope that things were going to start to get better, but he could. He was still only a child, after all.

* * *

And finished. Is it bad that I seem to have to constantly remind myself that Keane is _not _a main character in the series proper? He just loves to subtly steal the spotlight, and I let him. But yes, a bit less major plot points were covered in this chapter when compared to the previous, but never fear. As always, I have plans. Rather excited for the next chapter, actually, but I'll just leave it at that.

Well, as always, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it and please review.


	46. Chapter 44

JFHKJDKJF! How in the world did the two year anniversary sneak up on me like this! _Two years!_ Is this story getting long or what? Kind of flabbergasted by that. I hope no one minds the large timeframe this story's been going on for. I still have maybe… two and a half arcs that I absolutely _need _to get to before even considering an ending. Really though, thanks everyone who's been sticking with me all this time or have picked the story up along the way.

Chapter 44

Husky was surprised. He was also confused, and slightly suspicious. It'd been a little over a week now since he'd hidden Senri away in the spare room, a few days more since the funeral.

He hadn't had any dreams in that time. No one had found Senri, although he'd had several close calls with Keane. Nana kept assuring them that things were fine at her house, and her mom had been released from the hospital. Cooro was as fine as he ever was.

Things had actually _slowed down. _

He wasn't about to start getting comfortable though, since things were still far from perfect. They had yet to figure out why all of this had happened, or what those dreams really meant. He wasn't entirely sold on Nana being completely safe either, and he was still very cautious about anyone finding Senri. It had only been a week, after all, and it was kind of clear that Keane knew _something_ was up, just not what. The redhead had started to just accept the random meals that could be found on the stove whenever they got home from school, though, which Husky assumed was the biggest tip that something was definitely off.

He hadn't attempted suggesting it might be their father again though. Something just told the silver boy that would not really go over very well.

He was with Senri in the spare room right now, trying to teach him a simple card game he knew. He seemed to understand the basic rules for the most part, but kept forgetting what each individual card meant. The silver boy was starting to get more used to the teen's strange mental quirks though, and started to put the cards away without much hesitation. The teen didn't appear to mind at all, thankfully.

It was getting kind of late, and he and Keane had started taking turns for who would cook dinner each day. Tonight it was his.

"I'll see you later Senri," he said, and the teen nodded in understanding. Leaving the room, Husky tried not to jump when he saw Keane leaning against the wall opposite him, apparently having been waiting for the younger boy in the seldom used hallway.

"What were you doing in there?" the redhead asked, looking the him over with a slight suspicion in his eyes. Husky managed to keep himself from freaking out at the thought that he might know something was up, instead simply shrugging before starting past Keane on his way to the kitchen.

"Nothing. I'm going to cook dinner," he said, assuming that to be the end of it. He didn't expect the sudden frown or glare that the older boy directed at him.

"Fine. _Don't _tell me," he grumbled, shoving balled up fists into his pant's pockets before walking to his bedroom and slamming the door shut rather loudly. Husky stared at the closed door at the other end of the hallway for a minute, trying to figure out where in the world _that _had come from.

Sighing under his breath, he started down the stairs and towards the kitchen. There probably wouldn't be much point to go and try to figure out what was wrong with him this time. One other thing had happened over the past week, and that was that Keane had been acting really moody for some strange reason. He wasn't about to try to start a fight though. He'd get over it eventually. He was probably just still trying to get over everything with Dylana.

No, neither boy had seen their father in the past week either.

Husky quickly pushed that thought out of his head. He didn't _want _to see that man, so there was absolutely no complaining on his part about that. Soon, the young boy was in the kitchen and pulling out what he needed for dinner.

Hopefully everything would stay calm for just a little bit longer.

Keane flopped down on his bed in an annoyed huff. He _knew _Myrrha was keeping something from him. He hadn't been sure at first, thinking that maybe he was just being paranoid or that he might just needed some space with everything that had been happening with... just with everything.

That was why he'd asked Cooro to tell him if anything was wrong with his brother that day. Those two seemed to be so close, and Myrrha had went to him when he couldn't live with them anymore. Keane had no doubt that if he was going to go to _anyone_, it would be Cooro. The black haired boy hadn't said another word on the subject since then, however. Of course, he rarely saw Cooro when Myrrha wasn't around, so even if he wanted to say something, there weren't many chances for him to do so.

Why didn't Myrrha trust him? He was clearly hiding something in that spare room. Keane had noticed him going in and out of it every day starting almost a week ago now. He even bought food in there, and he was well aware that his twig of a younger brother did not eat that much.

He was _trying _to wait for the silver boy to come and tell him on his own what in the world he was doing in there, but it didn't seem that was going to happen. Not after he'd brushed him off so carelessly and without a second thought just now. It was pretty darn clear that he wasn't even _considering _telling him what was up.

Pushing himself off the bed, the redhead started out of his room and down the hallway as quietly as he could. Myrrha was all the way down in the kitchen, so he shouldn't be able to hear him either way, but you could never be too careful.

Once he reached the correct door, Keane couldn't help but hesitate slightly. He doubted the younger boy was actually doing anything bad in there, so maybe he should just let him have his privacy. Their whole dynamic had changed only recently after all, it probably wasn't that surprising that Myrrha wasn't willing to share everything with him yet. It wasn't like he was telling the silver boy his whole life story either.

That didn't calm the feeling he had that something was just wrong though, and with a deep breath he opened the door very slightly, only barely enough for him to be able to peak inside.

He immediately shut it again, taking a few steps back and _dearly _hoping he was seeing things. Gulping nervously, he cracked the door open once more and took a tentative second look.

The redhead was frozen in place as he tried to comprehend just what, no, _who _he was seeing. There was a person in there! A really big guy with long hair and was that an _eye patch_? He shut the door as quickly and quietly as he could, trying to keep himself from screaming in fear.

Very slowly the initial shock wore off enough that he was able to comprehend slightly just what was going on.

His little brother. Was hiding some strange man. In their _house. _

"Myrrha!"

Husky had just finished putting a tray of pizza into the oven when he heard Keane practically screeching his name. Before he could even get out of the kitchen he could hear the redhead running down the stairs, but the panic only really started to sink in when he saw the look of fear and anger on his face.

"Um, yeah?" he asked hesitantly, trying not to jump to conclusions and end up giving himself away if by some chance Keane hadn't actually found out. It could be about something else, he might not have actually seen Senri.

"What is wrong with you!" he yelled, managing to tick off the younger boy slightly. He'd already decided that he was going to try to not get into any unnecessary fights with Keane though, and so attempted to keep himself as calm as he could while he answered.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, not entirely sure how well trying to play dumb would help him. It was worth a shot though, at least at first.

"Who the _hell _is that?" Keane yelled, pointing up towards the stairs and causing Husky's stomach to drop. So he had seen Senri. The silver boy couldn't help but be surprised with how he was reacting though. He'd expected him to be scared, or to try to call the cops or something. Not get _mad_. He hadn't seen Keane this angry since long before he'd moved in.

"O-oh, that_," _he started uncertainly, watching as the redhead's peeved expression stayed exactly the same. "Um, I can explain that," he tried again. Keane just nodded slightly, clearly waiting for him to start to do just that.

"His name's Senri. He's a friend of mine," before he could say anything else, the older boy started shaking his head repeatedly.

"Oh no. No, no, no," he mumbled, running a hand down his face.

"I'm not done, he's-" before Husky could continue Keane once again cut him off, not looking like he wanted to hear any of this. This was not good. This was _not _how Husky had thought it would go when he found out.

"Save it. I want him out of here. _Now,_" the redhead demanded, surprising the younger boy. What had gotten into him? Keane had been acting weird for the past week or so, but this was just ridiculous. He didn't even know how long Senri had been staying here, so why was he getting so worked up? What would it matter to him if he had a friend over without permission? It wasn't like he needed to ask Keane what he could or couldn't do anyway. And sure, Senri could be kind of intimidating, but he wasn't _that _bad.

"You can't just kick him out! Let me explain," he tried again, but Keane was shaking his head before he could even attempt to continue. Husky was really starting to get tired of the older boy continuously cutting him off.

"I can't? Oh yes I _can_. Damn it Myrrha, do you even have any idea what you're doing?" he asked, sounding a bit more exasperated than angry this time. Not that it was much better, since he was still demanding he put Senri back on the streets.

He couldn't do that though. He'd already promised the teen and the others that he could stay here for the winter, and he intended on keeping that promise. He just had to get Keane to listen to him.

"I know exactly what I'm doing! You're the one who doesn't have any idea what's going on," he fought back, but that only seemed to anger the redhead even more than he already was.

"You're right! I _don't _have any idea what's going on because you never tell me _anything!_ I knew you were hiding something in that room for over a week now! I just didn't think…" he trailed off, shaking his head in disbelief. Husky wasn't able to hide the look of shock on his face that Keane had actually known. He probably knew that this wasn't the only thing he was hiding either... Was he really _that _bad at keeping secrets?

"I thought you might be hiding some sort of animal in there. A dog or cat or something, not a freaking person… Why can't I have a _normal _little brother?" he mumbled under his breath. Husky instantly glared at him due to the insult, but managed to find his voice again and somehow keep it calm in an attempt to fix all this. Keane had said worse to him in the past when the fought all the time, so it wasn't that hard to ignore.

"You don't know him. He's nice, he just needs somewhere to stay for the winter," he tried, but Keane didn't look like he was about to give in on his stance at all.

"Where's _his _home?" he asked. Husky shrugged slightly before answering.

"I don't know. He doesn't have one," he said. Saying the woods in the park probably wouldn't be the best idea, and it really didn't qualify as a home anyway. At any rate, he wasn't about to send Senri back there, so it wasn't an option anyway.

"That doesn't mean he can stay here. What if he's dangerous? I'm not letting some maniac take advantage of you!" the redhead yelled, although that only managed to make Husky even angrier.

"He's not a maniac! He _saved_ me the night I ran away!" he shouted back, trying to hide the slight intimidation he felt with the way that Keane didn't even flinch or make any sort of movement showing that he might even think about reconsidering.

This wasn't like their old fights. It used to be that once Husky started yelling back he'd either storm off in a huff or start attacking him physically. Keane shouldn't be able to stand his ground like this without blowing up. It wasn't the way things worked between them. He wasn't supposed to be this stubborn.

"I'm not kicking him out," Husky said firmly, as if that was the end of it. As far as he was concerned, it was. Keane wasn't even listening to him! He didn't know the whole story and wasn't letting him explain. Well… not that he'd explain the _whole_ story anyway, but enough so that he would understand. Once again, the redhead started shaking his head.

"Then _I _am," he declared, turning around to head up to where Senri was blissfully unaware of the heated argument going on with him at the center. Husky quickly ran in front of him, blocking the older boy's path.

"No! Just meet him. I promised he could stay," the silver boy tried. Keane only shook his head once again though, causing even more anger to bubble up inside of his younger brother.

"I'm sorry Myrrha, but there's just _no way_. Even if he is trustworthy like you say, I'm not going to risk it," he said firmly. Husky glared at the older boy, not about to take that as an answer. Keane was being absolutely ridiculous! Senri's not a bad guy! He wasn't even willing to meet him and see that for himself.

He somehow managed to ignore the voice in the back of his head saying that really, he could not blame the other boy for how he was acting. He was trying to protect him after all, no matter how wrong he was about the whole situation.

"You can't just decide what we're going to do and _completely _ignore me! You're not…" the silver boy yelled, quickly cutting himself off when he couldn't think of the right word he wanted to use. Keane's not… the leader? The boss of him?

"Dad?" the older boy asked bitterly, actually causing Husky to flinch from the spite lacing his voice. He'd never heard the redhead sound so… disgusted with something before.

"Well, in case you've forgotten Myrrha, dad _doesn't _care about us! He's not going to be here to help you the way Marein always was! He hasn't even been around enough since the funeral to see if we have anything to freaking eat! _I'm _what you're stuck with now, whether you like it or not!" Keane yelled, seeming to explode from frustration at much more than just their current argument.

The silver boy could only stare at him for a moment, eyes opened wide and refusing to blink. He wasn't entirely sure at all why he couldn't bring himself to think enough to speak. Okay, so he wasn't used to the redhead being so angry, at least not anymore, but it shouldn't stun him like this. He already knew everything Keane just said was true. H-he'd known it for a long time. It shouldn't be so much of a shock to hear the older boy actually say it out loud.

And yet he was still standing there silently like an idiot; just _staring _at him and looking like the confused and hurt child he really was for once.

After a few seconds the redhead sighed, much of the searing rage melting away from his form. He still looked irritated and just fed up with this whole thing, but no longer like he was about to punch a hole in the wall.

"You're _my _little brother, not the other way around. As far as I'm concerned, that means I have every right to decide what's best for the both of us, especially since no one else is going to," he said, much of the anger gone from his voice as well. The younger boy finally managed to pull himself together enough to speak again, but it wasn't quite as forceful as he would have liked it to be.

"He doesn't have anywhere else to go," Husky said quietly, starting to run out of arguments, especially since Keane wouldn't even consider meeting the teen. The redhead sighed and started walking past him, although he still didn't seem anywhere close to how angry he'd been a moment ago.

"What are you doing?" the silver boy asked, following him back into the kitchen.

"Calling Aunt Crystala," he said simply, reaching for the house phone. Husky's eyes opened to the size of dinner plates, but he managed to snatch the phone away before the older boy could grab it. Keane glared at him, seeming more irritated with his stubbornness than mad by this point.

"Give me that," he demanded, holding his hand out for the phone. Husky shook his head though, grasping it protectively to his chest. Sure, Keane could just go get one of the other phones scattered throughout the house, or his own cell, but that didn't mean the silver boy couldn't at least try.

Even if that trying was just childishly refusing to give in when it was pretty clear he was already beaten.

"No! He's _not _a bad guy!" he yelled.

"Would you rather I called the police?" the redhead snapped, before reeling himself back in and motioning for the phone again. "She'll know what to do. She's dealt with orphans and homeless kids before, remember?" he said, but Husky didn't make any move to hand it over. Keane rolled his eyes before pushing past him without another word and heading up the stairs to get his cell phone out of his room instead.

Husky debated chasing after him, but slowly decided against it. He was only delaying the inevitable now, as much as he absolutely hated to admit it. Instead, he started towards the room Senri was still hidden in, without any idea about what had just happened. One thought rang throughout Husky's head as he walked up, the thought of the possibility that he might have to make the quiet teen go back to living in the park making him move slower than normal.

What in the world was he going to tell him?

Keane sighed as he listened to the sound of Myrrha's footsteps slowly making their way down the hall. He hadn't meant to get so angry with the boy, but he hadn't really gave him much of a choice in the matter. Either way, Keane waited until Myrrha was well out of earshot before dialing their aunt's number. After a few rings he heard the distinctive click of someone picking up.

"Hello, who's there?" a much too chipper for his current mood voice asked, and Keane tried to keep his own voice sounding neutral. It'd probably be for the best if he didn't go around telling everyone about what had just happened, only Aunty, especially if Myrrha ended up finding out he had later on.

"Hey Daisy, it's Keane. Can I talk to aunt Crystala? It's kinda important," he asked. On the other end of the line the bubbly blonde girl nodded.

"Sure thing Keane, I'll go get her," she said, and the redhead sighed in relief when he heard her place the phone down in order to go retrieve his aunt.

He still wasn't entirely sure what he was going to tell her, but there was no way that he could handle what Myrrha was trying to do all by himself. He wasn't even sure if he could just handle _Myrrha _all by himself anymore. There was obviously more wrong with him than just being upset that he was kicking out the homeless teen he'd taken a liking to. He highly doubted that he would come to him about anything else any time soon though, not with the fight they'd just had.

Like he'd already said though, even if this Senri guy was trustworthy, they couldn't just let him stay here. He had to have a family of his own, or at least have to go to school or something. He didn't even know how old he really was, or how Myrrha had even met him in the first place.

In the back of his mind, he vaguely remembered seeing the grey haired teen in the church the day after his brother had ran off. Maybe there was some truth in what he said about Senri having saved him that night, but they still couldn't house him like the boy wanted to. They already had enough problems just trying to take care of themselves.

He just hoped that Aunt Crystala knew what they could do about all of this.

"Keane, is everything alright?" the redhead was brought out of his musings by the concerned sound of the older woman's voice.

"Yeah. Um well, no, not really, actually," he answered. He knew it instantly caught her full attention, even without being able to see what she looked like. Before she could ask exactly what was wrong, he continued. "I need some help with Myrrha."

"Is he hurt?" she asked without any hesitation, and Keane quickly shook his head.

"No, he's not hurt. It's not that kind of help," the redhead answered quickly, "Look, um, I'm not really sure how to explain this… Myrrha's trying to, well, help someone, I guess, but there's no way he can do what he's trying to do on his own. I, um, maybe it would be better if you could come over and we could explain in person?" he stumbled, not entirely sure how the woman would react to him just straight out saying 'Myrrha's keeping a homeless teen in one of our spare rooms and refuses to get rid of him.'

"Alright dear, I'll be right over. Is Myrrha with you right now?" she asked, and Keane instinctively shook his head.

"No, he's mad at me because I told him that we couldn't help his friend," he said, trying to keep it as simple as possible until Crystala actually got here and could see for herself what was going on.

"Okay, I should be over in about half an hour. Thank you for calling me Keane," she said. Before the boy could answer her, the blonde woman started up once again. "Does your father know about any of this?" she asked.

"Why would he?" Keane asked back, the bitterness from earlier boiling up inside of him once again and clearly evident in his voice.

He'd had it with their father. He'd had it with people mentioning him, asking about him, making excuses for him. Even if Myrrha didn't fully realize it, despite his blowup after the funeral, Keane had come to accept the fact that he didn't care about _either _of them at all.

He's used to think that Myrrha was the favorite. That he cared for the younger boy much more than he ever would him, and _that _was the reason why the man never seemed to take the time to notice him.

Of course, now he knew that he just didn't care about either of his children. And for some reason, that was so much _worse_.

On the other end of the line he could hear his aunt sighing softly under her breath before speaking once again.

"Okay dear, I'll see you soon," she said simply, and Keane nodded in response.

"Bye Aunt Crystala," the redhead answered before hanging up the call and collapsing onto his bed. He'd have to go tell Myrrha that their aunt would be there soon and they'd have to explain everything to her. He would in a second though, right now he just needed time to recollect himself.

He had no doubt that Aunt Crystala would be able to help them out with all of this somehow. He just hoped that Myrrha would like and accept whatever solution she came up with for them. He didn't want the younger boy to be mad at him, not when he was just trying to protect them both. He still stood by his decision. It didn't matter if this Senri really was harmless, he wasn't about to risk his little brother like that. Not again.

His own _mother _turned out to be sick enough to try to kill the boy. Sure, he'd always known that she didn't like Myrrha one bit. She'd made that fact more than clear to everyone, but he'd never once thought she'd actually… He didn't know who he could trust for certain anymore.

He still wished though, for just _once_, that Myrrha would trust _him_.

* * *

And once again, happy two year anniversary to myself~ Yeah, adorable big-brother instincts Keane had to go and steal the chapter all to himself, didn't he? This chapter was really fun to write though, probably a great deal due to the fact that I just love writing arguments.

Well yes, I do hope you all liked the chapter, and thanks for another great year with this story. As always, reviews are amazing, and thanks for reading.


	47. Chapter 45

Hello everybody. Time for another chapter, and it wasn't after an extremely huge wait, thankfully. Just a small-ish wait. I'm hoping to be able to updating on a quicker schedule now that it's summer, but you never know with how life works and everything. Of course, I'm really excited for something happening in a couple chapters, so that might motivate me to get these out a little bit faster than normal.

Also, _forty-five _chapters? ! Hot dang, we're reaching the halfway to 100 mark.

Chapter 45

Husky let out a long sigh as he closed the door behind him, quickly catching Senri's attention. He looked up at him from where he sat, confusion and concern clear on his face. The silver boy tried to smile at him, but it wasn't really working, so instead he went over and landed with a huff on the bed.

"_Keane _found out you're here. You know, my brother? He's calling my aunt right now to tell her!" Husky explained, glaring at the wall as he still bubbled over with the unfairness of it all. Senri simply nodded though, not appearing to be too upset about his discovery at all. Instead, he seemed to be more concerned with how the silver boy was doing. Husky didn't know if it was because he didn't quite grasp that it might mean he'd have to go back to living on the streets or not though.

Of course… he really doubted that Aunty Crystala would do something like that. That still didn't mean that she wouldn't try to take him away to some kind of shelter or something though. They couldn't have that. What if someone found out about his anima while he was there? They'd sell him to science or something like that, and who knows what _those _people would do to him. Husky wasn't one to believe in government conspiracies or anything like that, but he highly doubted that if whatever it was that happened to them became public they wouldn't exactly be allowed to walk around freely anymore.

Before he was able to explain any of that to the silent teen though, a knock at the door interrupted him. He didn't even turn to look at it, already knowing who it was and most certainly _not _in the mood to talk to him one bit.

"Myrrha, I know you're in there, don't ignore me. Crystala's gonna be here in about twenty minutes, you're going to have to explain everything to her then," Keane called into the room. Husky hadn't locked the door or anything, so he could have gotten in if he tried, but apparently he wasn't going to.

"Yeah, like you didn't already tell her that I'm apparently _insane _and housing a maniac!" he yelled back, still not turning towards the door at all and bitterness clearly lining his voice. On the other side, Keane sighed and shook his head, although he knew that Myrrha wouldn't have heard or saw him either way.

"No, I didn't. I didn't tell her anything about what's going on, just that you need help, okay? I'm _trying _to be nice but seeing as you trust total stranger more than me I guess it doesn't matter!" he yelled, stomping down the hallway before Husky had any chance to respond. Turning around, the silver boy stared at the door for a moment, as if unsure about what to do, before crossing his arms and whipping back around in annoyance. If Keane was trying to be nice he would have listened to what he had to say, not go off and call for help when they didn't even need any.

"I _don't _need any help…" he grumbled to himself, pretty much lost in his own world by this point.

Senri frowned slightly as he watched the younger boy pout on the bed. Standing up, he walked over to where he sat, having wrapped himself in the thick blanket now, as if he was trying to pretend that anything on the other side of it didn't really exist. The movement quickly caught his attention though, and the silver child turned to watch him, a slight look of confusion on his face.

"It's okay," he said calmly, sitting down on the bed as well. Husky stared at him for a moment, before turning away and shrugging reluctantly.

"Y-yeah, it'll be fine… My aunt's nice, so I doubt she'd make you go out on the streets again," he mumbled. After a moment he turned towards the house phone next, still clenched in his hand. He'd forgotten to put in down after snatching it away from Keane, for all the good _that _had done.

"Maybe I should call the others or something, let them know what's going on…" he debated. Of course, if he told them they'd probably be over in an instant trying to defend Senri. Sure, he'd appreciate the help, but with all three of them it might be harder to keep their story straight when explaining it to his aunt. Not to mention she'd probably be able to tell something was up if they did that.

Reluctantly he placed the phone on the side table, deciding against it. They'd be furious that he didn't tell them what was going on as soon as he possibly could, especially if Senri ended up getting taken away, but he should be able to handle Aunt Crystala by himself. Even though he hadn't even been able to handle Keane of all people…

Keane sat waiting in the living room for their aunt, seeing as he highly doubted Myrrha was going to come down any time soon. Even though he knew Myrrha got along with her, he was probably too angry right now to want to see anyone. The redhead finally caught sight of her car pulling into the driveway a full ten minutes earlier than the time she'd given, and quickly went to open the door for her when she knocked.

The blonde woman smiled down at him as she walked inside, although she almost instantly started scanning the room for Myrrha afterwards. Keane didn't even wait for her to ask or say hello before explaining.

"He's sulking upstairs. I'll take you so that he can explain, but he'll probably just get mad if I stay," he said, and Crystala nodded. Following him up the stairs, the two quickly made their way to the spare room Senri had been living in. Keane just pointed at the door before starting back down the hallway without another word. If Myrrha didn't want him to be around, then he wouldn't be. Aunty Crystala could deal with him and the strange homeless teen now, since he was apparently so incapable of helping.

Watching the redhead go for a second and deciding that she would probably have to have a talk with him as well after this, the blonde woman then turned her attention to the door that had been pointed out. Walking up to it, she softly knocked before calling in.

"Myrrha? Are you in there?" she asked, standing with her hand on the doorknob as she waited for an answer. On the other side the silver boy flinched slightly at the sound of his aunt's voice, while Senri just watched on in curiosity. After a second Husky forced himself to nod slightly.

"Yeah," he called out, not feeling any need to do anything but answer her question for now.

"Keane called me and said something was wrong. Can I come in?" she asked, and hesitantly the boy said yes. Opening the door, she had not been surprised to see her nephew on the bed, one of the blankets wrapped around him and sulking, as his brother called it. She was a bit surprised to see a large teenager also in the room, a confused and somewhat curious look on his face, or at least on the part of his face that she could see. A good chunk of it was covered with some black fabric acting as an eye patch.

"Myrrha, who's this?" she asked, despite recognizing the teen as one of the children who had been helping her search for him when he'd run off in the park. The silver boy didn't turn to look at her as he answered, but he answered, which was the most important part.

"Senri… he's been living here for about a week," Husky said after a moment. Crystala just nodded, not appearing very surprised by this. Keane had said that he was trying to help out a friend, after all. Of course, she hadn't expected that 'help' to be quite like this.

"And I take it that's why your brother's so upset?" she asked. Husky just shrugged, even though he knew that was exactly the reason Keane was upset.

"I guess," he mumbled, wondering slightly why the redhead wasn't here now. Surely he'd want to get his point of view in, unless he just assumed that there was no way Aunt Crystala wouldn't see it his way. That or he really had explained it already, and had just lied about not.

"Where is your home, dear?" she asked, turning towards Senri now, who just stared back at her for a moment, clearly trying to think of an answer but not coming up with anything. Husky sighed softly, still not entirely sure how he was going to explain that. He didn't even really understand what was wrong with him, it was just how he was. Cooro had said he'd been this way for as long as he'd known him after all, so it had to have been going on for quite a while now.

"He doesn't know. He doesn't really… remember much," the younger boy decided on at last. Crystala just nodded, although she was frowning slightly now as she looked the teen over once again. "He doesn't talk much either," Husky added on as an afterthought, although he had a feeling that she would have managed to figure that out on her own easily enough.

"I see. Myrrha, it was very nice for you to try to help him out like you have, but you shouldn't have tried to do all of this on your own," she said at last. The silver boy instantly started shaking his head though. He _wasn't _doing this on his own for once, Cooro and Nana knew. Of course, he doubted that his aunt could have counted a couple of other kids his age as a 'not doing it on their own.'

"Why not? It was going fine until Keane found out. And I couldn't just leave him living in the _park. _I owe him," Husky defended. Crystala nodded, carefully taking in everything he said, since she doubted that her nephew would just come out and tell her exactly what was going on with everything if she didn't directly ask him.

"I'm not going to make him go back their Myrrha, you can relax about that," she said, rather pleased to see the boy turn towards her slightly for the first time since she'd come into the room.

"Now, why do you owe him?" she asked afterwards, which once again caused Myrrha to look away. Senri kept glancing between the two carefully. The silver boy shrugged slightly after a moment, burying his head just slightly farther underneath the fabric. He didn't exactly like talking about this, but he wasn't going to go off and have another panic attack or anything like that.

"Because he saved me the night I ran away," he answered quietly, fiddling around with the blanket to keep from looking at her. Crystala nodded softly, mind quickly racing to decode exactly what he was talking about.

She knew what he meant by 'the night I ran away' and had nearly beaten her brother's skull in for not telling her _immediately _what had happened to her nephew, and for not realizing that he'd even been gone in the first place. She didn't know the full story of what had happened that night though, just what her brother had chosen to tell her, which she was sure was only the bare minimum. And of course, he only knew what the police had told him, and she doubted they knew everything either. She could be certain that if something hadn't been essential, Myrrha had probably kept it to himself.

"What did he save you from?" she asked, finding it a bit hard to keep her voice as calm as it normally was. She knew that there was no way it could have been Dylana, but she absolutely hated what that implied. That something _else _had possibly threatened her nephew that night, and this was apparently something no one else knew yet.

Myrrha just shrugged though, not looking like he thought whatever happened had been that big of a deal. Or at least, trying to pretend that it wasn't. She wasn't about to put something like that past the stubborn boy at all.

"Just some drunk guy. Senri chased him away before he could catch me, then took me to Cooro's," he said at last, very intentionally leaving out several things. Crystala just barely managed to force herself to nod, wondering if the child in front of her even realized just how lucky he really was.

"Have you told _anyone _about this?" she asked, having a feeling that was the case, but couldn't be certain. It was possible that her brother had simply left that part out, but the silver boy shaking his head after a moment confirmed it was her first thought.

"Nothing happened, so I didn't see why it'd be important," he said. On the outside, Crystala managed to nod once again, even if on the inside she was absolutely seething and making plans to find their father as soon as she was finished here and _kill_ him for letting something like this slide past without any notice.

"Thank you for protecting him Senri," she said after a moment, turning towards the teen again. Senri just nodded, and Husky couldn't help but wonder if he even remembered the incident.

"But that's why I need to let him stay here! Keane wouldn't even let me explain," Husky yelled, quickly changing the subject back to what it'd been beforehand. Crystala sighed softly under her breath. She could definitely understand why he would want to try to help the teen out now, but she highly doubted her brother would ever see something like that. Once again, Myrrha didn't realize how lucky he was that it had been Keane who'd found out and not her brother.

"You're father will never let him stay, and you know that," she argued calmly. Myrrha instantly shook his head though, not seeming concerned by that at all.

"He wont find out! He hadn't even been home since the funeral, he'll never see him," the silver boy declared. Once again, Crystala found herself increasingly angered by her brother's 'parenting' if it could even be called that.

"He hasn't?" she asked, and Husky shook his head, although he didn't look upset by this at all. Instead looking like he was just stating a fact that didn't really bother him one way or the other. Even though this was the only parent either of the siblings had left, and the funeral had been over a week ago now.

"No, or at least he hasn't been when me and Keane are home," he answered. Once again Crystala sighed, running a hand down her face in aggravation. If it wasn't when they were there, then she truly doubted it had been at all. They would have only been gone during school, and maybe to be with friends for a bit afterwards. Still during parts of the day when he would have normally been at work.

"Myrrha, he can't stay here," she said at last, drawing herself back to the conversation at hand. She could deal with their father after all of this was done with.

"Why not?" he asked, clearly still feeling very defensive of the older teen. Looking her nephew over, she knew that he would not be happy at all if she said that she was going to take him to a shelter or some other place like that. He didn't really get attached to people very often, but when he did he tended to get rather clingy, whether or not he would ever actually admit that.

"Because, your father will find out eventually," she said. She would make sure he would, after all. Not because she would tell him, but she was not about to let this neglect continue. Before the boy could start to argue again, she continued, "He can come stay with me. Remember how I told you I'm moving closer? We're moving in next week, you can still see him as much as you want, and I can try to see if we can locate any living relatives or information," she finished. Myrrha just stared at her for a moment, eyes widened in surprise. He opened his mouth as if to argue, but then shut it again after a second, reconsidering.

"R-really?" he asked at last, glancing uncertainly at Senri as he did. The teen seemed almost as surprised as he did, but Crystala just nodded.

"Of course. Now, why don't you two gather up his things, I should probably talk to Keane before I go," she said, and reluctantly the silver boy nodded.

"So, you move in next week?" Husky asked before she could leave the room, and the blonde woman nodded. She already knew what was bothering him, and smiled softly.

"Yes, now don't worry. He'll be fine with me until then, I promise," she reassured. The younger boy didn't immediately nod, instead thinking that over. He really didn't have a choice, and this was a lot better then having Senri forced to some sort of shelter, or just having to hide all the time. That didn't change the fact that Nana and Cooro were going to kill him when they found out that they couldn't see Senri for a week and he'd sent him off with something lady they barely knew.

"Okay," he said at last though, and Crystala nodded once again before leaving the room, starting over to where she knew Keane's was.

As soon as he was sure she was gone, Husky turned back over to Senri, still a bit shell shocked from what had just happened. The teen was already starting to pick up a few of his belongings though, so he guessed that he wasn't that upset about having to leave.

"You can't use your powers around my aunt, okay? No one can find out about them," he said, and Senri looked back up at him and nodded to show he understood. Husky did not like the thought of having to leave the teen alone for a week, but he'd managed to survive on his own for quite a while without anyone finding out, so he'd probably be fine. Or at least, he really hoped he would be.

Untangling himself from the blankets, Husky got off the bed to help Senri pack up what little he had. He guessed he could have tried to call Nana or Cooro during this time but… he really didn't want to have to explain all of this over the phone. He could tell them after Senri left, it would be fine.

Crystala knocked on the door to the redhead's room, hoping that he was in there.

"Keane dear, can I talk to you for a minute?" she called in, quickly hearing someone starting to move about before a soft click came from the other side of the door. She still waited until she heard him actually speak before coming inside.

"Come in," he called. Walking in, she found him sitting on his bed, looking up at her, obviously curious about what had happened with the other two, despite how much he would probably try to deny it.

"Senri's going to come live with me," she started as she walked father inside. Keane simply nodded, seeming a bit relieved by that. She didn't know if it was because the teen would no longer be staying there, or because it actually seemed like something that Myrrha would allow. It was probably a little bit of both, actually.

"Are you okay? I know you're trying to be strong for your brother, but you can tell me if something's wrong," she asked after a moment, sitting down on a desk chair off to the side. Keane quickly nodded though, despite the fact that Crystala didn't believe it.

"I'm fine, really. Thanks for helping out with Myrrha, he wasn't listening to be at all," he said. Reluctantly the blonde woman nodded. She knew he wasn't as fine as he said he was though, clearly extremely upset with his father, much like she was, actually.

"I'm going to talk to your father," she told him, standing back up from her seat. That instantly caught the redhead's attention though.

"Why? He doesn't need to know anything!" he asked, and Crystala just shook her head.

"Not about Senri, but about leaving you two alone for as long as he has. Myrrha said he hasn't been home _at all_ since the funeral?" she asked, and reluctantly the boy nodded. Crystala just sighed, not liking that fact confirmed at all, but not surprised in the lest that it was.

"I know you're mad at him, you have every right to be. Hopefully I can make things a little bit better," she told him softly. Keane just shook his head though, pulling his knees up to his chest and glaring at a random spot on the wall.

"He doesn't care about us, it doesn't matter if you yell at him. It wont change anything," he mumbled. Crystala sighed softly under her breath, shaking her head but not entirely sure how to argue against that. She really didn't think anything she could say would change the thirteen year old's mind.

"It'll be okay dear," she said after a moment. Keane didn't answer her though, and so she quietly left the room in order to go retrieve Senri and help the two put anything he had left in her car.

When she got back to the room, the two had everything packed inside of a bag that Myrrha had allowed the teen to borrow. They both followed her down to her car, and she could tell that her nephew was still very hesitant about letting Senri go off with her. Crystala made sure to reassure him once again though, and she heard the teen speak for the first time, telling him it was okay.

Pulling away from the house, she could just make out the silver haired boy heading back inside. As soon as she got Senri back and settled it, she was going _straight _to her idiotic brother's work and not giving up until she was allowed to see him. If she had to resort to legal actions to get those boys into a _proper_ home then she would take it, and she was going to let him know that too.

If he didn't get his act together as a parent soon, then she would personally make sure to take them off his hands, if he was so busy.

* * *

And Senri has a new place to stay, and Crystala is pissed off. Which she pretty much has a right to be. My sister keeps saying that she is the only reasonable authority figure in this entire story, which is kind of true so far. Well yes, as always I hoped you all liked the chapter. Thanks for reading and please review.


	48. Bonus Chapter Fighting and Family

Hey everyone. So, I did not plan on writing this at all. The next bonus chapter wasn't supposed to come for a little bit later, and it was supposed to be focused on Senri, but this scene got into my head and would not leave me alone until I wrote it. So yeah, you all get an extra bonus chapter, and more Keane, yay.

Just a little warning beforehand though, there's a tiny bit of language in this chapter. Nothing too horrible, but still a bit more than what I usually have. I felt that not having it though would actually take away from the emotion and realism of the scene though, so I hope that no one minds.

Bonus Chapter- Fighting and Family 

Keane glanced up at the clock on his wall, barely making out the time in the dim light before turning back to his videogame. 1:40 am, and he had school tomorrow too. He knew he needed to get to sleep, but he just couldn't yet. He wasn't tired.

He tried to pretend that the sound of his mother's muffled curses and pacing around as she waited for their father, late once again, coming up from the living room had absolutely nothing to do with it. He didn't even know why she bothered anymore. He was _never_ home when he said he'd be. What would make this time any different?

The redhead cringed, ignoring the slight pain it caused in the still healing black eye that Myrrha had given him during his last visit, and shifted his focus deeper into his game at the sound of a loud bang. His mother had no doubt thrown the phone when his father once again failed to answer her call. He _wasn't _scared or anything like that. He was way too old to be afraid of loud noises and people yelling, and even still he'd been dealing with this his whole life it seemed. He just didn't want to be woken up when his father finally did get home and the fighting started.

Almost as if on cue, Keane heard the distinct sound of the front door opening. Despite himself, he quickly turned off the handheld game and started towards his door. He didn't stop there though, walking out into the hallway as quietly as he could before sitting next to the staircase, just out of anyone's sight. He knew that they wouldn't come up here, they never did and no one would ever know he was there.

He'd gotten into quite a habit of eavesdropping on his parents over the years, as well.

"Where in the _world_ have you been? I've been trying to call you for hours!" his mother asked, sounding just as angry as Keane knew she was. To his surprised, his father just sighed, not immediately starting to get defensive like he normally did.

"I'm sorry. My phone d-… ran out of charge," he answered, sounding absolutely nothing like the redhead was used to. Almost like he'd been crying or some other crazy thing like that. Keane attempted to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach at the tone, trying not to think about what in the world could have made the man he'd been slightly terrified of his entire like sound like that. From the way Dylana started speaking, he could already tell she didn't even notice it.

"That doesn't explain where you've been," she spat, clearly waiting for him to tell her exactly that.

"Look, dear, Marein-" he started, only to get sharply cut off by his wife the second the name left his mouth.

"If that woman wants to talk to you about god knows what then she can do it when _I'm_ there, in the daytime, when she's-" his mother wasn't able to finish her rant, his father interrupting her in much the same way she had him, only with much, much less spite lining his voice.

"She's dead, Dylana," he said, voice sounding completely hollow. Keane heard the creak of the couch as he collapsed into it, but didn't pay that any notice at all. The thirteen year old felt his entire body freeze when what he said sunk in. M-myrrha's mom had… died? B-but _how? ! _As far as he knew, she hadn't been sick or anything! Myrrha hadn't said a thing. Oh god, _Myrrha. _

For once, thinking of the younger boy didn't bring up images of his parents constant fighting and their own friction. Even his current black eye was completely forgotten about.

Instead he was left thinking of the little boy who was always trying to sneak back into his mother's car so that he wouldn't have to stay here. Who attached himself to her hip at any chance he got. Who was probably sobbing like the world was ending right now, despite the fact that Keane had never once seen the proud and sometimes downright arrogant child cry.

"What happened?" His mother asked at last, seeming to have found her voice a lot quicker than Keane had. The redhead was surprised at the coldness lacing her words. She'd sounded completely devoid of any emotions at all. He knew she hated Marein but this was another person! Didn't she care at all?

"A car crash, drunk driver. The police said it was instantaneous," his father answered after a moment, the guilt still heavy in his voice. Neither adult said anything for a moment, and Keane heard his father stand once again.

"Myrrha will be here first thing tomorrow morning. I've already had almost all of the legalities completed, so everything should run smoothly," the tall man said, not surprising Keane in the least. Where else did he have to go, after all? What absolutely shocked him, however, was his mother's response.

"He is _not _staying here!" she yelled, all the bitterness and spite from earlier resurfacing. Keane nearly gave himself away, resorting to clasping a hand over his mouth before he could cry out _what _in the world she was talking about. How could she even say something like that after finding out the kid's mother had just been killed? !

"He's my son! Of course he's coming here!" his father fought back. The redheaded boy wasn't even sure if he was breathing by this point, having never removed his hands from his mouth and terrified that any tiny sound or movement would alert them that he was there.

"He's a _bastard child!_ I've already had to put up with that brat enough! I am not having him live here!" she yelled. Keane closed his eyes, shaking slightly and wishing dearly he was back in his room, but unable to move an inch.

He wasn't scared. He wasn't… he wasn't…

"Don't you _dare_ call him that _ever_ again!"

"I'll call that demon whatever I want! Him and his whore of a mother! He's not staying here!" she screamed back. W-what was wrong with her? Myrrha wasn't _that _bad of a kid… h-he was just a little kid.

"Shut the hell up! If you ever speak of her like that again! He's staying here, and that's final!" his father yelled.

"Why can't he go live with that damn sister of yours? ! She'd take the bastard!"

"He's my _son _and you can't change that!" he screamed.

"I'LL KILL HIM! I'll _kill _him and then he can go stay with his god damn moth-" she wasn't able to finish, Keane instinctively cringing even farther in on himself at the loud cracking sound of a slap causing her to cry out in pain.

Never hit each other before. Only objects. It had never been this bad. It'd be okay though. It had to be okay. He wasn't scared. He wasn't. He was too old to be scared. She wasn't going to _kill_ Myrrha. No one was going to _die_.

The redhead was shaking, head tucked into his knees and his hands tangled up in his hair. They never saw him, they wouldn't this time either. They wouldn't come upstairs.

"If you even _think_ about laying a hand on him I'll throw you in jail in an instant, you little bitch!" his father yelled over the sound of Dylana sobbing. Keane could barely even register the sound of him stomping away, until he started to yell once again.

"I should have chosen Marein!" he yelled before slamming a door. His mother kept on crying where she sat, and Keane found himself yet unable to move, still _horrified_ about being found.

Listening to them fighting his entire life, it had never… it had never been that bad, and he had never once heard his father say that. To actually and finally admit that he loved the other woman more. That he made a mistake choosing them. Keane didn't even care by this point though. It wasn't like it mattered anymore anyway. She was dead.

Maybe that was why he finally managed to say it.

He wasn't sure how much longer it was until he heard his mother slowly stand up from her spot and make her way to another room. Surely not the room his father was in. He didn't know if they were ever going to speak again at this point. It wouldn't surprise him if they didn't.

Only after sitting there in silence for another ten minutes did the redhead finally manage to untangle his hands from his hair. Slowly, he got up the nerve to stand and _run_ to his room, drowning himself in his bed, shaking and trying to hide and absolutely _terrified _despite telling himself that he wasn't.

He did not start crying, or at least, he would never admit that he did.

When his alarm clock went off at six in the morning he shut it off as fast as he physically could, as if afraid it was going to wake up the entire house. He didn't even try to move from his bed though. He wasn't going to school today. He highly doubted either of his parents would noticed if he stayed home anyway.

Even still, the redhead found himself unable to return to the fitful sleep he'd been in, instead just lying there and wondering what in the world he was going to do. Myrrha was coming today. Permanently. Instead of the normal annoyance and outright jealousy that normally filled him when he was coming, he was just scared. Not for himself though, for Myrrha. His mom had been acting completely insane last night! W-what if she really did try to hurt him?

Keane quickly shook his head. That had been the argument talking. His mother would never actually hurt a little kid, no matter how much she disliked him. But he still… it would probably be best to keep the two apart for now.

At six thirty the sound of his father leaving for work mostly likely reached the redhead. Less then a half an hour later he heard his mother walking out as well, although he had no idea where she would be going. She didn't have a job. She probably just didn't want to be there when Myrrha arrived. Keane actually found himself sighing in relief at the thought.

He'd always been the one to greet Myrrha whenever he came before, as unwelcoming as he'd been most of the time. He did not want that to change now. Definitely not after last night.

It was around eight o'clock when the redhead finally managed to push himself out of bed and get dressed. Tying his unruly hair up in a ponytail, he made sure that his face wasn't any redder than it should have been. With the exception of the purple just starting to recede around his left eye, he looked completely normal.

Walking downstairs, he couldn't help but jump at the sound of three loud knocks on the front door. Quickly glancing out the window, he caught sight of a police car in the driveway before starting over to open the door.

When he opened it he saw a large policeman standing there, a suitcase on one side of him, and Myrrha on the other. The silver haired boy had the duffle bag he usually used during his visits slung over one shoulder, and was staring at the ground. It was beyond obvious with his pale skin that he'd been crying, just like Keane had thought, but the redhead didn't say anything about that, instead turning to look up at the policeman instead.

"Hello there son, are either of your parents home?" the man asked, and Keane shook his head.

"No, my dad had to go to work and my mom's out grocery shopping, but they told me what happened. Do you need me to call them for anything?" he answered, lying just a bit. He doubted that's what his mother was really doing, but it wasn't like it mattered much, and sure they hadn't told him, but he knew either way. The policeman frowned slightly, but slowly shook his head as well after a moment.

"No, that should be fine," he said, despite obviously not liking the circumstances at all, and Keane didn't blame him. What kind of people didn't make sure they were there for the ten year old they'd just gotten custody of?

The man went to place a hand on Myrrha's shoulder afterwards, although he hesitated slightly before touching the child. Keane just then notice scratch and… _bite_ marks on his arms. Normally Myrrha would have tried to shake his hand off, not exactly one to like being touched by many people, but the silver boy didn't even acknowledge it. The redhead couldn't help but think at some time before this it had been a different story. Myrrha probably _had not_ come here without a fight.

"It'll be okay," the officer said though, before turning back towards Keane once again. "Does he have a room he normally stays in?" he asked, and the redhead instantly nodded.

"Yeah, here," he said, taking Myrrha's duffle bag from him without any sort of fight and leading the two up to the younger boy's room. Once there Keane placed it down on the bed, Myrrha sitting next to it without even glancing at either him or the officer. Keane couldn't help but stare at him as the officer placed the suitcase down as well, not used to Myrrha looking so… so… dead.

"Are you two going to be alright on your own?" the officer asked, breaking Keane out of his thoughts. He nodded once again, turning towards the man if only so that he wouldn't have to look at Myrrha anymore.

"Yeah, my mom should be back soon, we'll be fine," he said, although he highly doubted that, she'd probably be out all day. They would be fine though. The longer his parents stayed out was probably for the better. The officer nodded once again before turning around to leave. Before he fully left the room though, he stopped and turned back towards Keane.

"Oh, one more question, if you don't mind," he said, and the redhead instantly shook his head.

"Of course not, what?" he asked.

"What happened to your eye, boy?" the officer asked, and Keane couldn't help but flinch slightly and glance for a second over to where Myrrha still sat. Quickly pulling himself back together, he started scratching the back of his head nervously.

"O-oh, _that. _Heh, just some kid from school. Y-you can't be arrested for fighting at school, right?" he lied, not about to tell him that he'd been fighting with the broken boy on the bed not two days earlier. The officer seemed to have noticed the way he looked at Myrrha beforehand though, but just smiled at him slightly before shaking his head.

"I wont convict you this time, but try to stay out of trouble, alright?" he said jokingly, and Keane nodded.

"Um, okay. Thank you," he said. The officer started down the stairs and out the door with that. Keane wondered slightly if he should have showed him the way out, but figured it was too late for that now.

Sighing softly, the redhead turned back to where Myrrha still sat, having drawn the blanket around him at some point when he wasn't looking. He looked like he was trying to disappear into the fabric, and Keane had absolutely no idea what to do.

"M-myrrha?" he asked softly, taking a small step towards the boy. He didn't even look up at him, instead drawing the blanket tighter around himself.

"Go away…" the silver boy mumbled, so quietly that Keane wasn't even sure if he heard it at first.

"What?" he asked.

"Go away. Just leave me alone," he answered, and slowly Keane nodded. The older boy didn't blame Myrrha for wanting him gone at all. He was probably lucky that he was just ordering him to leave, instead of throwing things at him or forcing him some other way. Of course, he didn't really look like he was up to doing anything like that.

"Okay, I'll see ya later then…" Keane mumbled, starting towards the door. Before he shut it though, he turned back towards the obviously devastated child. "And Myrrha, I'm _so sorry,_" he said truthfully, shutting the door without waiting for an answer that he knew wasn't going to come.

Without another thought, he started towards his own room, once again collapsing in his bed afterwards.

He had absolutely no idea what was going to happen now. He doubted his parents were ever going to speak to each other ever again. Myrrha was an absolute wreck, and who knows how long it'll take him to recover, if he ever did. And himself? Well, he… he was certainly shaken up a bit from it all.

Perhaps strangest of all, he found himself wanting to _protect_ Myrrha. That little brat who he'd always used to fight with. The one who'd not just given him this black eye, but plenty others in the past, as well as a broken nose and millions of other scrapes and bruises. For some reason, none of that really seemed to matter anymore. It wasn't like Myrrha had been responsible for all of that, he'd started a fair share of their fights as well.

He just knew that for some reason or another, it made him feel absolutely sick to see him so broken. Being led around like some doll, instead of insisting he could do things on his own and fighting back every step of the way. He wanted to keep him from ever having to feel the same paralyzing fear that had gripped him last night that he still stubbornly refused to admit.

It made him feel even worse to remember what his own mother had said about his little brother last night.

Sitting up in his bed, Keane blinked in confusion. Huh. His little brother. That was the first time he'd ever called Myrrha _that. _

Shrugging, the redhead laid backed down. It was true, after all, even if he'd never thought of the younger boy like that before. Even if he wasn't sure if Myrrha himself would ever think of him in a similar way.

Maybe that was why he wanted to protect him now. After all this time, it finally hit that this was his little brother.

* * *

And there you go. Poor Keane, always torturing him. Haha, anyway, I hope you all liked it, since like I said, wasn't supposed to happen. Although really, I've wanted to do something on when everyone actually found out about Marien's death for a while now, so don't be too surprised if another one of theses with Husky's point of view comes along somewhere down the line.

As always, thanks for reading, and please review.


	49. Chapter 46

Hey peoples of the internet. It's time for a new chapter, and once again I was able to actually update without forcing you all to wait forever. Hooray for summer, which is seriously the only reason I have any time to write. I am going out to California on the 15th, which will probably take away from my writing time a little bit, but it should still be all good.

Anyway, how about we just get on with the chapter?

Chapter 46

Crystala periodically glanced over at the silent teen sitting in the passenger seat during the half hour drive back to her house. The entire time he didn't say a thing, staring blankly out the window at the passing scenery, although the blonde woman wasn't even sure if he was really seeing it, his one eye completely blank.

Her mind wandered back to her nephew and the little information he'd been able to give her on the boy. His name was Senri, he had a hard time remembering things, and was clearly a very quiet boy. He didn't have a home, which was the cause of their current predicament, and had apparently been living in a park. She assumed the same one that Myrrha had gone to when he'd ran away from the funeral last week.

Crystala sighed softly, the teen turning towards her as she did, but still didn't say anything. She smiled slightly, keeping her eyes on the road while she spoke. Even though he didn't say a word, it seemed easy to tell that he was concerned.

"It's fine, we'll be at my house soon," she said, Senri nodding slightly to show that he'd heard. Just as she said, the two pulled up to a nice looking middle sized house about five minutes later. A 'Sold' sign was sticking out of the yard, not that the grey haired teen took any notice of it. Turning off the car, she quickly got out, Senri following her lead, grabbing the duffle bag that Myrrha had lent him as he did.

The tall teen looked around curiously as they walked up to the door, Crystala explaining that they had a spare room he could stay in until the move. Once inside the house, many things were in boxes or being prepared to be packed. Most of the walls were empty because of this, but it didn't seem like Senri noticed or cared all too much.

Crystala couldn't help but frown as she wondered what could have caused the teen to become like this. Even if they took out how strangely unresponsive he was, there was still the fact that he'd been completely homeless, with apparently no recollection of a home or family when her nephew had found him. She also had a distinct feeling that the eye patch he wore wasn't simply a fashion statement, either.

Before the tall woman was able to show him to where he would be staying, her daughter came bounding into the room. The smile that was on the young girl's face quickly dropped in confusion at the sight of the large teen however.

"Who's this? Was everything okay with Keane and Myrrha?" Daisy asked, staring up at Senri as she did. Crystala smiled calmly and nodded.

"This is Senri, he's a friend of Myrrha's. He's going to be staying with us for a while," she started, watching as the blonde girl nodded, this not exactly being the first time that her adoptive mother had brought someone home before.

"Keane and Myrrha are fine, but I need to head out for a bit. Do you think you could help Senri unpack while I'm gone? Oh, and do explain everything to Ed if he comes home before me, could you," she said, very clearly imagining how wrong it could go if her fiancé found the large boy wondering throughout the house without any explanation.

Daisy nodding when she had finished, a smile on her face once again. Without another word the hyper girl took a hold of Senri's hand, starting to drag him towards the spare room. He looked a bit confused, but was smiling down at the girl none the less and allowing her to take him wherever she pleased. Crystala could hear Daisy already starting to introduce herself and chat endlessly to the teen, waiting just a moment to make sure everything was okay before leaving the house again.

A long sigh escaped the woman once she was back in her car. Immediately she started off towards her brother's work, going a bit faster than the speed limit actually allowed her. She was still absolutely livid, worry for her nephews fueling her anger.

Crystala reached the large building her brother owned in the middle of downtown much faster than she really had any right to. Parking, she stormed out of her car and thought the front doors, not caring about the slight stares she received as she did so.

Without asking for any direction or even permission, she started over to the nearest elevator, pushing the button for the very top floor. The blonde woman tapped her foot impatiently as it carried her upward, stopping several times to let others on and off at different floors, much to her barely hidden annoyance.

Finally she reached the top floor, making her way with such purpose that the one guard she did pass on her way didn't think to ask what she was doing or if she was even allowed to be up here. Unfortunately, a bored looking secretary seated at a desk outside of her brother's main office didn't make the same mistake.

"Excuse me, ma'am, no one's allowed to see Mr. Sandori without an appointment," she said in a rehearsed voice, not even looking up from a magazine on her desk as she did. Crystala forced herself to stay calm, although the snapping sound as the woman chewed a piece of gum almost made her reconsider even trying.

"Amir is my brother, this is a _very _urgent family matter, so I'd appreciate it if you could unlock the door for me," she said, not even having to check to know that the door would be locked. This time, the secretary looked up at her, but she didn't seem any more interested in her reasons for being here or convinced to let this woman in.

"Mr. Sandori gave specific instructions to not be interrupted from his work, if this is such an urgent matter surely you have a personal cell phone number you could call to let him know you're here and have him let you in," the secretary said, turning back to her magazine afterwards and flipping to the next page. Crystala was very quickly losing her patients with this woman, something not easily done in the least.

"Look, Ms…" She trailed off, glancing down at the nametag on her desk "Spinden, I'm sorry, but I don't have the time to argue with you. I _need _to see my brother. Now. This is about his children, and I'm _sure _you'd love to explain it to him if something happened to one of them," she said, her voice carrying a very heavy amount of authority. Crystala could see a hint of fear in the woman's eyes as she slowly nodded before pressing a small button on a keypad on her desk that she'd hadn't noticed before.

"Yes ma'am," the secretary said as she did, and Crystala heard a distinct click letting her know that the door was now open. Not even glancing back at the other woman, she started towards the door and through it without any hesitation at all before shutting it loudly behind her.

Her brother's head shot up, clearly surprised by her sudden entrance. That shocked expression quickly turned into one of anger, the man taking to glaring at his twin as she stalked across the large room over to him.

"Crystala, _what _are you doing in my office?" he asked, impatience very clear in his voice. The blonde woman saw his eyes glance towards the door for a split second, Amir clearly wondering how she'd managed to even get in here in the first place.

"Do you care about your sons _at all?_" she asked back, immediately getting to the reason she'd come here and completely ignoring his question for her own. The tall man sputtered slightly, clearly thrown a bit off guard by the sudden and very blunt accusation. He quickly recovered though, his already fierce glare intensifying as he answered.

"Of course I do! If you're just here to lecture me on how to raise _my _children again, you can leave now," he defended. Crystala was standing right in front of his desk now, actually towering over her brother slightly with him seated. She very well knew it was intimidating, although she also knew that the stubborn man in front of her would never admit to such.

"Myrrha told me today that you haven't been home since the funeral," she said, watching the shock and guilt that flashed on Amir's face, gone not even a second later. Before he could say anything in his defense though, the blonde woman continued.

"Neither boy seemed to have even missed you, either. In fact, Keane seems like he'd be perfectly happy never having to talk to you ever again," she said, and this time, her brother wasn't able to wipe away the shock or pain quite as fast. Good, she wanted those words to hurt. It at least proved that he still cared about how they thought of him. After a few seconds, he was able to recover enough from the suddenness of her statement to speak again.

"I've been busy with the company. Things were backed up because of the funeral," he said, although Crystala was able to detect a hint of uncertainty as he spoke, as if he wasn't even sure of how true what he was saying really was.

"If you're so busy then I could easily take them off your hands," she told him coldly.

"I already told you I don't need _you _raising my sons! I can take care of them myself!" he yelled, anger once again filling his form. Crystala managed to keep herself completely calm though, despite how much she would like to hit her brother and yell at him about what an idiot he was. This angered him much more anyway.

"Then _why?_ Why haven't you been with them? Keane just lost his mother and Myrrha is probably still traumatized from what he had to go through!" she asked, her scrutinizing gaze never leaving Amir's face. The blond man hesitated for a moment, before shifting his eyes down to stare at his desk and finally answering her question.

"What am I supposed to do with them?" he asked at last, uncertainty and confusion clear in his voice. "You said yourself that they're _happier _not seeing me," he mumbled, surprising Crystala. So that was it. Of course, she should have known.

"Avoiding them isn't going to fix anything. You _could _try telling them your sorry and actually put an effort into being a part of their lives," she said. Amir scoffed slightly and turned to glare out the large window, although Crystala could tell that he was actually thinking over what she'd told him. Of course though, the stubborn man would never admit to such. After a few seconds he spoke again, although he still wouldn't look her in the eye as he did.

"So, Keane's upset with me?" he asked, managing to keep his voice neutral. Crystala quickly nodded.

"Both of them are, with good reason too," she answered. Once again, her brother was silent as he thought this information over.

"You need to talk to them," She started again, "and at the very least, Myrrha needs some help, if not Keane as well. Neither will admit it, but they're _clearly _traumatized by what happened, and it's not healthy forcing them to deal with it all on their own," she said softly, once again noticing the guilt in her brother's eyes. Despite how convince both boys were of the opposite, he still did care about them.

"They're not going to get it themselves either, those boys are much too stubborn to admit when they need some help." Crystala said with a sigh, "They're just like their father," she added on after a moment, clearing surprising the man still sitting in front of her.

"I'll talk to them," Amir said after a few moments, Crystala internally sighing in relief when he did. Her brother was stubborn, and downright idiotic when it came to his sons, but at the very least he seemed willing to try once again. She would be there to watch and make sure nothing went wrong now as well. She wasn't about to let those boys get hurt anymore.

"One more chance. That's all I'm giving you to fix this. If I hear something like this happening again, if _either _of them get hurt just one more time, I'm taking them both," she declared, watching the glare form in her twin's eyes once again.

"I'm their father, you have no legal right to take them," the blond man fought back, clearly not very pleased with the 'deal' his sister had offered.

"Both of them are more than capable of stating their case in a courthouse. You'd be hard pressed to find a jury who wouldn't take the words of two innocent children over their rich father," she said simply, Amir's silence letting her know that she was quite right in her assertion.

"One more chance," she repeated, turning around and starting towards the large mahogany door. "For their sake, don't mess this up," she finished, walking out of the office without even glancing back at her brother, still seated at his desk.

Crystala quickly made her way out of the large building, not bothering with the elevator this time. Even if the stairs were longer on a whole, it felt better to be able to keep moving, instead of having to keep stopping over and over again.

Once in her car again, she sat down forcefully into the driver's seat. Closing the door behind her, the blonde woman let out a long sigh of frustration, running a hand down her face as she did so. Afterwards, she quickly managed to pull herself together, starting the car and beginning to drive home once again.

She supposed that could have gone worse. She just hoped she wouldn't regret giving her brother this one last chance.

….

Husky sighed as he walked back into the house, before starting up the stairs to his room. Once there, he quickly locked the door behind him, not wanting to have to deal with Keane if he decided to try to talk to him or something like that. Sitting on his bed, he grabbed his cell phone off of the side table, before just staring at the screen as he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do now.

He had to tell the others about Senri. They'd probably be even more upset if he tried to wait until tomorrow at school to tell them what happened, so it'd be best if he just got it over with now and called them. They had needed to find Senri a more permeate place to live anyway, and now they did. Of course, they were supposed to figure that out together…

Shaking his head, he flipped open his phone and started dialing the number for the church. The silver haired child didn't even notice that he had it memorized by now.

He'd told Nana about taking Senri into his house first, so it was only fair that he talked to Cooro about this first instead. Of course, there was also the fact that he was pretty sure that he didn't actually have Nana's phone number. He could ask Cooro for it afterwards.

It wasn't long before the ringing on the other end of the line stopped, someone having picked up the phone.

"Hello, St. John the Baptist's Church, how may I help you?" Cooro's cheerful voice came over the phone, and Husky couldn't help but sigh in relief. The nun who lived there was nice and all, but it was always easier when Cooro himself answered the phone.

"Um, hey Cooro," he said simply, not quite able to completely hide the nervous quiver in his voice. The black haired child picked up on it immediately, smile quickly dropping off of his face as he tried to figure out what could have gone wrong this time. Several things, actually.

"Hey Husky. What's wrong?" he asked, listening as a long sigh came out over the other end.

"Well, Keane found Senri…" Husky started hesitantly. Cooro nodded, shifting the phone slightly as he did. He kind of had a feeling that it might have been something like that.

"He wasn't okay with it?" the older boy guessed, and Husky immediately started shaking his head, the earlier argument replaying in his mind.

"Not at _all._ He completely freaked out and got all mad at me, not what I thought was going to happen if he found out," he explained.

"Got mad?" Cooro repeated, surprised at that. He wouldn't have thought that would have been Keane's first reaction. The silver haired boy on the other end of the line just nodded though.

"Yeah, he ended up calling my aunt and telling her," he started, quickly continuing before Cooro could say anything about that. "It's okay though, she's really nice. She's letting Senri stay with her instead, and she's moving into the neighborhood in a week to be closer to me and Keane, pretty sure I told you about that already, so we'll be able to see him again then," he explained. Slowly, Cooro nodded as the information sunk in.

"Okay, I guess that's good then. Are you sure Senri will be okay with her until she moves in?" he asked, quickly remembering Husky's aunt as the woman who had been looking for his friend when he'd run off in the park that day. She did seem nice enough, and if Husky liked her then it must be true. He didn't exactly get attached to many people.

"Yeah, this might actually be better for him. You know how Senri has problems like, remembering stuff, I guess. She's good at dealing with people with, um, problems like that," he stumbled slightly in his wording, but Cooro just smiled and nodded, understanding what he was trying to get at clearly enough.

"Oh, that is good then. Your aunt _did _seem really nice when she was looking for you with us," Cooro said happily.

"Yeah, she is," the silver boy agreed on the other end. Cooro almost laughed, it was really unlike Husky to say something like that about someone. It was actually kind of cute how clear it was that he cared about his aunt, but before Cooro could say anything about it he started speaking again.

"Wish _I _could go stay with her too," he mumbled into the phone, surprising the black haired boy slightly.

"But you told me she said you could go live with her once she moved in. Why don't you?" he asked. Husky just sighed, pushing himself to lean against his wall as he answered.

"Already told you, she can't take both of us and I'm not leaving Keane alone. Plus she'd end up noticing the markings," he explained. Cooro nodded, a small smile playing on his lips as he did.

"Even though you two just got into a fight?" he asked happily, causing Husky to blink in surprise, before grumbling slightly and glaring off at the nearest wall. At least Cooro couldn't see him, so that he had no way of knowing that his face had gone red as well.

"Whatever. Keane was still being an idiot, but Aunt Crystala was able to help, so I guess it wasn't that bad," he mumbled, ignoring the way Cooro was giggling slightly on the other end.

"Hey, do you think you can give me Nana's number, you have it, right? I need to call her and explain all of this to her next," Husky asked, quickly changing the subject as he did as well. Cooro nodded, finding the number for the silver boy and saying it to him. Once he had it written down Husky sighed.

"I should probably call her now and just get it over with," he mumbled. Once again Cooro laughed slightly before nodding.

"Okay then, I'll see you at school tomorrow," he said cheerfully. The two quickly said goodbye afterwards, and Husky closed his phone to hang up before staring at the seven digit number on the small piece of paper he'd found.

That had gone a lot better than he'd thought it would, but then again this was Cooro. He didn't really get mad about anything. Nana on the other hand… he wasn't too excited about having to try to explain all of this to her. Hopefully she wouldn't get too mad, it wasn't like Senri was in any danger or anything like that, after all. This really was probably better for him, and he'd told him to not use him anima around his aunt, so he shouldn't get caught.

The silver boy was just about to start dialing the number when he heard a sheik from somewhere in the house, causing him to drop the phone in his surprise. Before he could even get up to see what was going on, an obnoxiously loud beeping started filling his ears, causing the young boy to flinch slightly.

What the hell was going on? What was that, the fire alarm? Why would the fire alarm be going off?

Oh wait. _Damn._

That stupid pizza!

Without another thought he jumped from his bed, running down the stairs and into the kitchen. He could already smell the smoke when he was at the top of the stairs, and could see the grey puffs starting to leak out of the top of the doorway right before he ran in.

Keane was standing wide eyed in front of the open oven, smoke and flames flickering out. He quickly caught sight of the silver boy in the doorway though, taking a few more steps away from the heat and smoke that was starting to make his eyes water.

"What do we do? !" he asked, panic very clear in his voice. Husky didn't answer, instead running over to the sink as fast as he could and filling the first thing he grabbed with as much water as he could. Going as close as he dared to the stove, he chucked the water at it, hoping that it might lower the flame enough that they could get close enough to turn the oven off and get the whole thing under control.

Instead, it only seemed to make the problem worse, causing more smoke to billow out and the flames to grow even larger than before. The silver boy quickly found himself doubled over in a coughing fit from the smoke filling his lungs.

Suddenly, he was frozen in a panic. He couldn't breath. He didn't want to die. He _needed _to breath!

"Get _away _from there!" the redhead yelled, instantly grabbing the younger boy's arm as he did and started pulling him out of the kitchen without any protest. When Husky was finally able to focus enough to look up, his coughs dying down just slightly, he noticed they were now outside, Keane having let go of him and pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

"W-what are you doing?" Husky managed to keep himself from coughing long enough to ask. The redhead didn't even look at him as he hurriedly punched three numbers into his phone.

"Calling the police! The kitchen's on fire!" he yelled, as if Husky hadn't yet realized that fact. Slowly, the silver boy nodded. He wasn't about to argue with that.

Well shit. He accidentally set the kitchen on fire.

Husky listened as Keane quickly and frantically told the woman on the other end of the line what their emergency was, as well as their address, that they were both outside now and the fact that no, their parents were not home. The redhead nodded a few times, saying several okays before finally hanging up and turning to the younger boy.

"L-lets go wait out front. They said the fire department's gonna be here soon to put it out," he said, voice still shaky from the shock. Husky simply nodded, following the older boy around the house and into the front yard. Once there they both collapsed onto the grass, not sure what else to do beside sit and wait.

"Myrrha?" Keane asked quietly after a moment, surprising the silver boy. Before he was able to ask what the redhead continued, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, it was just some smoke," he answered, trying to sound as nonchalant as he could when he knew there was a large fire burning unchecked in the kitchen behind him. Keane nodded slightly, but there was still a worried look in his eyes.

"Okay," he mumbled. "Um, sorry about blowing up earlier," he finished, even quieter than before. Husky just rolled his eyes, not making eye contact with the older boy as he did so.

"Whatever, it'll probably be better for Senri with Aunty Crystala anyway," he said after a moment, ignoring the way the redhead smiled as he did. The two were silent for a little while longer, both wondering how long it would take for the fire department to actually get there. It'd barely been a couple minutes since Keane had hung up though, so they were probably going as fast as they could.

"What do you want to bet that someone's gonna take this as a cry for help, saying that we miss our dear daddy and are obviously _so _traumatized?" Keane asked, sarcasm clear in his voice and actually surprising Husky. That sounded just like something his annoying old psychiatrist would try to pull. The silver boy actually found himself chuckling, something he definitely never imagined he would be doing in a situation like this.

"Of course they are. Obviously it can't just be something like we got distracted and forgot to set the timer, of course not," he mumbled back, rolling his eyes and equally as sarcastic. Keane started laughing slightly as well, but quickly stopped when the sound of fire truck sirens reached their ears.

They could only imagine what people would say if they found them _laughing _as their kitchen went up in flames behind them. That definitely wasn't something either of them wanted to have to explain.

* * *

Yay, more stuff is happening. Haha, Husky, you and your family keep stealing all of the time in this story. No worries though, we will start to get more on others soon once again. Really can't wait for the next couple of chapters, actually. Many things are planned to happen.  
So, how many of you forgot that Husky had been cooking dinner when the whole Senri fiasco started? Husky did. It was kind of funny, as I wrote the scene it progressively got worse and worse. At first the pizza was just supposed to be burnt. You saw how that turned out.

Well, anyway, I hope you liked the chapter, and as always, thank for reading and please review.


	50. Chapter 47

Hey there people. So yes, new chapter pretty early, despite the fact that I'm off in California right now. That's because I actually got a chance to write it before I came out, because like I said, I'm pretty excited for the next couple of chapters.  
Also, what the? Look how close this story is to 200 reviews! That's crazy! I'll have to do something cool like I did for 100 when we get there, won't I?

Chapter 47

Husky and Keane hurriedly got to their feet when the fire truck pulled into the long driveway. Four men quickly came out and off of the truck, three of them heading inside while the last one walked straight over to the two children.

"Hello, my name's Captain Joseph Haines, are both of you alright?" the large man asked. He was completely covered in firefighter gear, and the two boys found themselves saying yes immediately. Joseph Haines nodded, smiling slightly as he did, before turning to look at the large house behind them. From where they were, you couldn't tell that it was burning, but the kitchen was pretty much on the complete opposite side of the house. Hopefully the fire hadn't managed to spread anywhere else either.

"That's good. What's you names? Do you think one of you could tell me what happened here?" he asked this time, and the two nodded a bit more reluctantly. Husky quickly started, not sure if he trusted Keane not to be dense enough to not know it'd be better to leave a few things out.

"I'm Husky Medici," he said, flinching immediately afterwards when he realized his mistake. "I-I mean Myrrha! I'm _Myrrha _Medici," he stumbled, turning bright red at the slip up. The tall man just seemed a bit amused though, and Keane quickly cut in to introduce himself as well.

"And I'm Keane Sandori," he said, hesitating slightly before continuing. "We _are _brothers though, it's um, it's kind of complicated," the redhead finished. Mr. Haines just nodded, seeming to simply accept the explanation instead of bothering to ask for any details. Husky managed to get a hold of himself once again and started speaking.

"Well, um anyway, I was cooking dinner, but I forgot to set the timer when I left the kitchen… and I got distracted," the silver boy mumbled, not liking how stupid and childish it made him sound. The firefighter just nodded though, taking down a few notes on a pad he'd pulled out of one of his pockets. Beside him, Keane nodded.

"I saw smoke coming out of the back of the stove when I went into the kitchen, and when I opened the oven all this fire and more smoke burst out. We called 9-11 as soon as we got outside," the redhead finished explaining. Once again the man nodded as he continued to write down what they said.

"And your parents?" he asked after he finished jotting down what Keane had said. The two glanced at each other for a moment, Husky quickly going to speak for them again.

"Our dad had to work late," he said, figuring that was close enough to the truth. Haines didn't seem to doubt the story, nodding once again.

"And your mother?" the man asked next, slightly surprised at the way both children flinched at the question. Before he was able to retract the question, Keane started speaking, scratching the back of his head nervously as he did.

"Um, she died," he said simply, not looking the firefighter in the eyes. The redhead wondered slightly if he should add on 'both of them' but before he could come to a decision Mr. Haines had started speaking once again.

"I'm sorry," was all he said, one of the other firefighters coming up behind him afterwards and pulling him aside. "I'll be right back," he told the two children before going off a few feet with the other man. Watching the two adults talk for a moment, Husky quickly turned to the other boy.

"We don't tell them about Senri, and we don't tell them about dad, okay?" he whispered to the redhead. Keane instantly made a face, clearly not liking that idea all too much.

"I wasn't going to mention your friend, Aunty already took care of him, remember? But why _shouldn't _we tell them about dad? Maybe they'll actually throw him in jail for abandoning us," he whispered back.

"Just trust me on this, okay?" Husky asked. He couldn't tell Keane why he'd rather it be kept a secret and everything just stay the way it was. And even if he could, it wasn't like he'd actually _believe_ he could turn into some sort of half fish creature from legend. Sure, he was a spaz, but even Keane wasn't that crazy.

The redhead stare at him for a moment before finally sighing and nodding slightly. He still didn't look like he was very happy with this, but Husky couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Fine, whatever you say Myrrha," he said at last, causing the other boy to relax slightly. Quickly afterwards the two firefighters finished speaking as well, and Haines started back over to them.

"We were able to put everything out, and the fire didn't leave the kitchen," he informed the two. Both boys couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief at that. "Do you have a number where we can reach your father? We need to talk to him about the damages," the firefighter asked, and hesitantly Keane nodded, pulling out his cell phone. Going down to the right number, he hit the call button before handing the phone over to the tall man.

"Hello, is this Mr…" the firefighter said once someone picked up on the other end, trailing off when he couldn't decide which last name to actually ask for.

"Sandori," Husky offered helpfully. Haines smiled and nodded at the boy before turning his attention back to the phone.

"Sandori" he finished. The two boys watched as he listened to whoever it was on the other end of the line, highly doubting it would actually be their father. The man nodded before speaking once again.

"Yes, I understand. I'm from the Lindalia Fire Department, there's been an incident at his house, if I could speak to him?" he asked. Husky vaguely wondered if he was talking to the same annoying secretary from when he'd last tried to call his father. Mr. Haines was silent for a few more moments as the two children assumed he was being connected over to their father.

"Hello sir, sorry to bother you… yes, a small fire in your kitchen, destroyed the stove and burnt some of the wall and surrounding cabinets" he explained, turning towards Husky and Keane as their father spoke on the other end of the line. "Your sons are fine, they've been handling the whole situation very well," he continued, nodding a few times as he listened to their father once again.

"Alright, thank you Mr. Sandori. I'll explain the rest when you arrive… yes… goodbye," the firefighter finished, snapping the phone shut and handing it back to Keane afterwards.

"Your father said he'll be here in about fifteen minutes," he explained, surprising both children slightly. Husky had to admit that they probably should have been _that _surprised. Something like this wasn't really a thing you could just ignore.

"He's coming here?" the silver haired boy still found himself asking despite knowing this. The tall man nodded, smiling slightly as he did. No doubt he probably had to deal with similar situations in the past, and probably thought he had a pretty clear idea on why the two wouldn't exactly be pleased to hear their father was coming home.

Husky wished it was something that simple. He wasn't about to correct the man though, not at all. To his relief Keane seemed to be listening to what he'd asked of him earlier and wasn't going to say anything either.

"That he is. Don't worry, I'm sure he'll just be more happy to see you two are safe," he reassured the two. Reluctantly, Husky nodded. It wasn't that he actually agreed with him, but it was safer and easier than trying to argue. It wasn't really like it mattered if they got grounded anyway. He doubted their father would be around to actually reinforce it, if he even thought to ground them in the first place.

The two children waited on the front steps for their father to get home. Mr. Haines had let them see the kitchen once it was deemed safe for them to enter while they waited. The oven's door had fallen off and was lying on the floor, and the rest of it was a charred black husk. The green cabinets directly adjacent to it were now stained black as well, the wall above the stove just as bad. Luckily though, all of the damage was contained in that small area. Sure, they'd still have to replace all of that, but it wasn't like they were exactly hurting for money.

Just as he said, about fifteen minutes later a car sped into the driveway. The fire truck has since moved to be parked out front of the house so that their father wouldn't block it in when he arrived. He quickly spotted the two seated on the front step, but before he could make his way over to them Mr. Haines stopped in front of him, introducing himself and shaking his hand.

The firefighter quickly showed him into the house and the damaged kitchen, explaining the cause of the fire and estimated cost it would probably take for everything to be fixed. Keane and Myrrha stayed where they were the entire time, although no one really found that very suspicious.

Once they were back outside the firefighter said goodbye to their father, waving at the two children on the steps before getting back into the fire truck. After it pulled away from their house their father sighed, turning around and walking to where the two boys still sat.

"What happened here?" he asked, looking them over as he did.

"I was um, cooking dinner," Husky started hesitantly, not used to seeing this man, let alone having his full attention for something like this, "and I kind of forgot to set the timer… and got distracted," he finished.

"What distracted you?" the tall man asked. Before Husky was able to think of an answer, not really wanting to say 'Keane found the homeless teen was I keeping in one of the spare rooms' the redhead started speaking.

"We got into a fight…" he told their father quietly. The blond man sighed, nodding slightly despite this. Husky assumed he probably wasn't going to ask what it was about. He hadn't really been around enough to know that them fighting wasn't an everyday occurrence anymore. Just as he'd thought, once he started speaking again it wasn't about why they were fighting, which the silver boy was quite happy with.

"You're grounded, both of you. Go to your rooms," he said, sounding rather worn out. The two quickly stood up and nodded, starting into the house without another word. Before either of them were able to get to the stairs though, their father started speaking once again.

"Wait, neither of you have eaten yet, have you?" he asked, and the two automatically shook their heads. Strange, despite the fact that all of this had started because he'd been cooking, Husky had forgotten all about food.

"I'll order something out. I'll call you down when it's here," he said, waving them both away again. Walking up the stairs, Husky turned to the older boy slightly.

"That was really weird," he whispered. Keane nodded in agreement.

"Aunty said she was going to go yell at him for leaving us, guess she did already," the redhead explained quietly. Husky nodded, having already reached his room. That sounded like something she would do, but he didn't expect it would actually mean that he would remember they had to eat and things like that.

About twenty minutes later their father called them down. Husky almost laughed when he saw that he'd actually had ordered them _pizza _of all things. They'd both grabbed a few slices and a drink before heading up to their rooms again, not saying a word to their father as they did. It wasn't that they were purposefully not talking to him, there just… wasn't really anything to say.

Husky actually managed to fall asleep rather early that night, completely forgetting about having to call Nana because of everything that had happened with the fire.

Once again, he found himself in that burning building, telling Senri that they needed to find the others. Falling into a coughing fit from the smoke and getting caught off guard by those men. Yelling at Senri to defend himself, and watching in a panic as he allowed his arm to transform back to normal, rendering him helpless to their attacks. Squeezing his eyes shut so that he wouldn't have to watch them kill him.

He'd thought that he'd wake up after that. That's what had happened the last time he'd had this dream. Instead though, he stayed listening as they attacked the silent teen and shaking in terror while he was held in place.

Why wasn't he waking up? T-this was a dream, right? He wanted to wake up!

Eventually he felt himself open his eyes despite the panic that had risen in his stomach, but thankfully he couldn't see Senri, or well, whatever had become of him. Instead, a large man was standing in his way, staring down at the silver haired child, a long bloody knife in one of his huge hands.

"You _monsters!_" he spat, not able to control his body but pretty sure he still would have said something along those lines if he could. "I'll kill you! You _ever _touch _any _of my friends again and I'll kill every last one of you!" he yelled, thrashing about in his capturer's arms now.

The man holding him pressed the blade to his neck once again, causing Husky to freeze in terror. His breath was uneven and ragged in his fear. He could feel his body still shaking, his hands so badly they made the rest of his arms feel like jelly, unshed tears building up in his eye.

He was going to die. Oh god, he was _really _going to die this time.

The man in front of him lifted his head up with one hand, taking a look at the black markings on either side of his neck, before sneering in disgust.

"Another beast," he growled. "What's the matter? If you cared about that other one so much why didn't you transform and try to save him?" he asked, a disgusted tone to his voice. The man twirled his knife as he watched the bound boy warily.

"All you monsters care about is yourselves," he spat before Husky could actually anser, stopping the spinning of his knife and glaring at Husky once again.

"That's not true!" the silver boy felt himself yell once again. He wasn't thrashing like before, knife still up against his neck, making him fear trying to do anything like that. He could feel a few tears leak past his eyes. "You're the monsters! I can't… I can't transform! I'm a _fish!_ What- what good would transforming have done?" he defended, feeling more tears escape as he did.

A fish. He really _was_ useless when it came to anything on land. N-nana and Cooro could fly away, and Senri could fight… What in the world could a _fish_ do? No wonder Senri was… having to protect both of them…

"I can fight _without _my +anima!" he heard himself yell, a haughty confidence underneath his panic that managed to surprise himself. He could? If that was the case, the how'd he get caught up like this? The large man looked him over skeptically, before sneering almost in what seemed to be amusement.

"A pretty little fish, huh?" the man asked instead, ignoring his outburst. Once again he took his chin in one hand and forced the boy to look up at him. Somehow, Husky felt himself glaring back at the man, despite the tears and fear still wracking his body. If he was in control, this time he doubted he would have been able to put up the same kind of fight.

"Almost a shame to kill something so beautiful," he said. Before the silver boy was able to yell at him from the perceived insult, something almost automatic to him by now, the words were ripped from his mouth. A shock of pain engulfed him, and he didn't need to look down to know that the knife the man had been flaunting around before was stuck in his side.

"_Almost_," he repeated, pulling the blade out of the silver boy.

Husky's eyes flew open, the boy short of breath as he pushed himself into a sitting position as fast as he possibly could in his still groggy state. His hands were shaking just as bad as they'd been in the dream, but he managed to control himself enough to feel the spot on his side where he remembered being stabbed just a second ago. When he pulled away he half expected to see his fingers covered in blood, but thankfully they weren't, his side just the same as when he'd gone to bed.

The silver boy sighed in relief, quickly wrapping the blue blanket that had been pushed to one side of his bed while he slept around him in an attempt at comfort.

He was perfectly fine. It was just a dream. There was no way it could hurt him anymore. Husky kept telling himself those things over and over again, but it did little to stop his shaking.

He found himself wishing that Senri was still here. He knew it was stupid and childish, but he wanted to make sure that the quiet teen was okay. Just to prove that it really had been a dream, and everything really _was_ okay.

Glancing out the window, it was still dark out. His alarm clock said it was only 4:28am, he still wouldn't have to even wake up for school for about another two hours. Twisting his hand around in his blanket, the silver boy frowned. He couldn't call Cooro at a time like this over a stupid dream, but he just _needed_ somethingto let him know that it wasn't real, and for some reason being back in his room wasn't working.

Maybe… maybe he could go check on Keane real quick. He was never in his dreams, after all, and he was sure to be asleep at this time of night anyway.

Pulling the blanket tighter around himself, he quietly snuck out into the hallway. The entire time he kept telling himself that this was so stupid. It was just a dream, he shouldn't be acting so childish! Senri was safe at his aunt's house, and there was no way that he _himself _was dead! He should just go back to his room and fall back to sleep.

It… it didn't hurt to just check though.

Reaching the older boy's room, he quickly opened the door just enough so that he could peek inside. He nearly dropped the blanket still wrapped around his shoulders when he saw Keane sitting up in his bed in the dark, his head whipping around in surprise to look at the door when he heard it open slightly. Husky immediately shut it as fast as he could, starting back to his room afterwards without even looking back.

Stupid. Why in the world was he so stupid?

"Myrrha?" Keane called into the hallway, stopping the younger boy in his tracks about halfway back to his room. The redhead closed his bedroom door behind him, a clear look of confusion on his sleepy face.

"What are you doing?" he asked, staring at his brother. Husky nervously wrapped his hand up in the blanket as he answered.

"N-nothing. What in the world were you even doing awake? It's four in the morning!" he asked, not about to tell him that he'd had a bad dream of all things. The only person he'd ever went to about dreams in his life was his mother. Keane wasn't even supposed to be awake! Why was he being such an idiot today?

"Couldn't sleep, just got off my computer. What are _you _doing awake? Are you okay?" he asked. Husky quickly nodded. He was just fine.

"I already told you, nothing. Just go to sleep already, we have to go to school tomorrow," he said, turning back around and starting to his room again. The redhead sighed, looking the retreating form mostly hidden by a blanket over very skeptically.

"Myrrha," he called again, following him until he stopped in front of his bedroom door. "Just tell me, why were you coming into my room? Did you want something?" he asked. Husky scowled, staring at the floor with his hand on the doorknob. He should just go in and lock the door in Keane's face. Of course, then he'd never hear the end of this.

"I just wanted to make sure you were still there," he mumbled quietly, not looking at the older boy and pretty sure he wouldn't have even been able to understand a word he'd just said. It was kind of true, after all. If Keane was there, then he really was back in the real world and there was no way his dream could have been true.

Forget the fact that he would be dead right now if it'd really happened. For some reason his brain didn't feel like using any _real _logic.

"Huh?" Keane asked, proving him correct. Husky sighed, hand tightening on the blanket slightly.

"I just… wanted to make sure you were still there, okay," he repeated, a bit clearer this time so that he could actually figure out what he was saying. The redhead still blinked in confusion though, looking the younger boy over as if he'd went and grown a second head.

"What? What in the world are you talking about? Where else would I be?" he asked. Husky spun around to answer him this time, face bright red in embarrassment. He was _not _talking to Keane about a bad dream or his stupid childish reasoning for checking on him!

"I don't know! Kidnapped by raccoons to go work as a slave on mars! Just leave me alone!" he yelled, very effectively stunning the older boy. Whipping around once again, he ran into his room, slamming the door behind him and flopping down on his bed with a huff.

Why was he such an idiot? He'd just had a bad dream, why couldn't he have dealt with it on his own?

It wasn't just a dream though, and he _knew _that. Those dreams were weird and absolutely terrifying and they felt real! It really _hurt _when he'd been stabbed, he had still felt remnants of the pain in his side after he'd woken up. They meant something and he didn't know what. What if they came true like the one where he drowned? Sure it wasn't exact but _anything_ even close to what had happened would be… he and Senri would be…

"Myrrha?" Keane asked once again, opening the door and peaking inside. Husky pulled the blanket up even higher around himself, not turning around as he answered.

"I told you to leave me alone," he grumbled. Keane just smiled, walking in a few steps farther and shutting the door once again.

"You didn't lock the door," he answered calmly. Husky just rolled his eyes, still not bothering to turn and look at him. He's already told him why he went into his room, that was all he needed to know.

"Did you have a bad dream or something?" the redhead asked after a moment, causing Husky to flinch. The younger boy didn't say anything, but Keane quickly figured it out from his lack of response. "Ohhh… seriously?" he asked, clearly surprised. Husky grabbed the closest thing to him besides the blanket he was still tangled up in, which happened to be his pillow, and tossed it at the redhead.

"Shut up! Would you just go away already?" he yelled, annoyed when the other boy actually managed to catch the pillow before it could hit him. Keane held onto the soft white bundle instead of throwing it back, leaning against the door as he looked Husky over. He still seemed a bit confused though. It definitely wasn't like Myrrha to get upset over a bad dream of all things, after all.

"Hey, you came into _my _room first," he defended.

"I'd thought you'd be asleep! Freaking insomniac," he growled. Keane just rolled his eyes at the insult though. If you could even call it that.

"Sorry to ruin that for you," he said sarcastically. "Are you sure you're okay though? Getting upset over a bad dream really doesn't seem like you," the redhead asked, sounding much more concerned and genuine this time around. Husky nodded, still not looking at him, taking to staring off at the floor instead.

"I told you I'm _fine_. You weren't even in my dream," he grumbled. Keane frowned slightly, but nodded all the same. Husky jumped in surprise, head shooting up to glare at the redhead after his pillow went and hit him in the face. He was just smirking at the younger boy, shaking his head slightly in amusement.

"Make sure you get some more sleep tonight. You'll need it with how crazy everything was yesterday," he said. Husky just rolled his eyes, slamming the pillow down at the top of his bed and collapsing onto it.

"Yeah, says the insomniac," he shot into the pillow. The redhead didn't say anything else, simply turning around and staring out of the room. Before he was able to shut the door behind him however, Husky started speaking again.

"Hey, Keane?" he whispered, still not bothering to actually look at the older boy. It effectively caught his attention though, causing the redhead to stop in the doorway and turn back around.

"Yeah?" he asked, confusion clear in his voice.

"Goodnight," he mumbled quietly. Keane just stared at him for a second, before smiling and chuckling slightly. His little brother was so _weird _sometimes. That definitely wasn't a bad thing though.

"Goodnight Myrrha," he said, shaking his head once again and closing the bedroom door behind him.

* * *

Gah! This chapter! I had to cut out not one, but _two _scenes since it got so long and I couldn't fit them. The whole last scene with Keane and Husky wasn't even supposed to be there! I just started writing it and then I got carried away with the brothers and then the chapter was done. I think I just needed something sweet after that poor nightmare I put Husky though. I swear, I am not joking though when I say Husky and his family keep stealing all of the screen time.

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter and as always, thank for reading and please review.


	51. Chapter 48

This story has over 200 review! How did this happen? Haha, like I said, I wanted to be able to do something once it finally reached it, so here's the next chapter, quite a bit early-ish. I was thinking about doing a bonus chapter, but I've been pretty busy, this was already finished and we just had one two chapters ago. So yeah, I hope you like the new chapter instead.

Seriously though, thank you all for following and supporting this story for so long and so much. It's more than a little lame how much I care about my fanfiction, this one in particular, and just knowing other people love it as well makes me genuinely happy.

Chapter 48

The next morning neither brother said anything about what had happened the night before, much to Husky's internal relief. He didn't need Keane hounding him about things in which there was just no way for him to explain even if he wanted to.

When he'd gone into the kitchen to get something to eat for breakfast, the one half was still a wreck from the fire. He liked to assume that their father would hire some people to fix that quickly, since he really wasn't looking forward to only having hot food coming from the microwave and toaster for however long it took to repair. With the way the man had acted last night, he really had no idea.

Husky quickly ate a banana before heading out of the house with Keane. Neither boy said much on the way to school, both still a bit tired from everything that had happened yesterday combined with a lack of sleep.

Cooro was waiting for them on the steps of the church, like normal. As they got closer, the silver boy could see a hint of concern in his eyes, and tried to offer him a reassuring smile. He guessed he was still worried about the whole Senri thing. It would make sense if he thought that he and Keane were still fighting with each other.

"So, how's everything been?" the black haired boy asked happily as the three started the rest of the way to school. The brothers glanced at each other for a second, not exactly sure how to start.

"Um, good," Husky mumbled after a moment. Keane nodded in agreement.

"We set the kitchen on fire last night," the redhead added in calmly. Cooro started to nod almost instinctively, before what was actually said registered in his mind, and he stumbled to a halt, shock and worry clear on his face.

"What?" he asked, probably the closest to yelling Husky had ever heard the other boy do. Once again, the silver boy found himself chuckling slightly at the event, something he knew was most likely wrong on many different levels.

"Yeah, the fire department had to come and put it out. It's fine though, no one was hurt or anything," he explained in a bit more detail. Slowly Cooro nodded again, starting to remember to walk as well.

"Oh, well, that's good…" he said after a few moments. "Why did you guys set your kitchen on fire?" he asked, still sounding rather hopelessly confused. Husky was a bit taken back by the question. There hadn't been a 'why.'

"W-we didn't do it on purpose! I was cooking dinner and then got distracted with the whole, um, Senri thing, you know… and then the oven was on fire," he defended. Cooro's eyes widened in understanding, and he started nodding quite a bit more confidently. _That _made much more sense. From the way they'd been acting before, he'd thought they'd just done it for fun or something, and he'd like to think that his friends weren't arsonists.

Keane was rather surprised by the fact that Myrrha had not only mentioned the whole thing with that strange teen, but that Cooro apparently understood exactly what he was talking about as well. He didn't comment on it though as they continued down the road. Myrrha had said that Cooro knew that Senri guy, after all. He guessed it would make sense that he would talk to the black haired boy about what had happened.

That didn't quite stop the slight sting that Cooro had possibly known exactly what Myrrha had been doing, and hadn't told him anything at all. Despite the fact that he'd specifically asked him to tell him if something was wrong with his brother.

Either that didn't qualify as 'wrong' or Cooro wasn't intending to keep that promise, and he really was completely on the outs.

A bit dejectedly, he couldn't help but think it was probably the latter.

Once they got to the school, the redhead quickly said goodbye to the two before starting off to his own classes. Husky found himself silent as they walked to their lockers. His mind had fallen back to that _awful _dream from last night. He was still shocked that he'd actually managed to get anymore sleep afterwards at all. He needed to talk to the others about it though, as much as he'd rather just forget all about it and pretend it never happened.

"Hey Cooro?" he asked quietly as the black haired boy pushed a few books haphazardly into his locker.

"Yeah?" he asked back, glancing up at Husky leaning against a couple of the other lockers. The younger boy took a deep breath, telling himself on the inside that he didn't have any reason to be afraid. He'd had another dream about the burning building because he'd accidentally set his kitchen on fire. Of course, fire hadn't really been the focal point of his dream, but that was besides the point.

"I had another dream last night," he started, just barely loud enough for the other boy to hear over the loud chatter of other students. Cooro immediately put his full attention on him, a slightly blank look on his face as he listened intently.

"It was the one with Senri, in that burning building, you know? It was different from my last one though, it didn't end after Senri was killed," he mumbled, messing with the buttons on his shirt as he did. Taking another breath, he forced himself to continue.

Why was it so hard for him to talk about this? It felt like he was literally talking about his own death. But it was just a dream! A weird, freaky, _horrible_ dream yes, but a dream none the less.

"One of the guys asked me why I didn't change into my anima to try to save him, and I said it was because I was a fish, so it wouldn't have done anything anyway… And then they killed me," he managed to finish, attempting to sound like it didn't affect him but not quite able to completely hide the quiver in his voice.

Cooro had a deep frown on his face as he nodded slowly, something Husky was not used to in the least. Cooro was supposed to be all happy and bubbly. Of course, this wasn't a very happy or bubbly subject.

"It's not fair," the black haired boy mumbled quietly as he shut his locker. Husky almost didn't hear him, lifting an eyebrow in confusion when he realized what he'd said.

"What are you talking about? What's not fair?" he asked. Was he talking about just everything that was happening to them? Because if he was, then the silver boy definitely had to agree, it wasn't fair in the least. He had a distinct feeling though that Cooro wasn't being quite that general with his statement.

"You and Nana shouldn't be having dreams like that. You both went through such bad things when your animas appeared, the only thing that happened to me was the dream. You guys having them too means it's like I didn't have to go through anything at all, and that's _not _fair," he explained, the guilt he felt because of all of this clear as day and surprising Husky slightly. Sure, Cooro had said something kind of similar before, but he didn't think that it was _still_ bothering him this much.

"Don't worry about that," he started, shaking his head slightly when Cooro looked like he was about to argue. "We can't control any of this. I already told you that it doesn't matter how the animas appeared, the fact is that we have them now. We just need to focus on figuring out what these dreams mean, okay?" he said.

Very reluctantly Cooro nodded, their classroom coming into sight. It was clear that he wasn't happy with what Husky was saying at all, but it didn't look like he was going to fight it.

"I still don't like it," he whispered, staring at the floor. Husky actually nodded in agreement.

"I don't like any of this either, but don't go pushing unnecessary blame on yourself," he said. The two dropped the subject once they were in the classroom, and didn't talk very much at all when Ms. Brighton actually started teaching. One thing about having had this slow week, which Husky was pretty sure had been shattered yesterday, was that he'd actually had a bit of a chance to catch up on most of the work he'd missed during his long absence.

Once the bell for lunch rang out the two boys quickly made their way to the cafeteria. Cooro had already started eating before Husky had managed to get a single thing out of his lunch bag. At least he seemed to be in a bit better mood than when Husky had told him about his dream earlier.

"I wonder how Nana's doing today," the black haired boy said absently. Husky just nodded, before his eyes widened in realization and he cringed.

"Dang it!" he yelled, hitting himself in the head as he did. That very effectively caught Cooro's attention, the older boy turning towards him, a very confused look on his face at his friend's sudden strange behavior.

"What'sa matter Husky?" he asked.

"I forgot to call Nana and tell her about Senri last night because of the fire!" he explained, just now remember what it was he'd been about to do when the smoke detector had gone off.

"Ohh," Cooro said, taking another bite of his apple before continuing, "I'm sure it'll be fine, we can tell her as soon as she gets here," he finished. Husky sighed and nodded, starting to eat his sandwich slowly. It wasn't like they really had any other choice, after all. Well, besides not telling her, and that wouldn't go over well at all.

Just then Husky spotted the brunette girl entering the cafeteria and heading over to them. At least so far nothing new had happened at her house, as far as he knew, at least. He supposed something could have happened since the last time he'd seen her, but she seemed pretty calm for that.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Nana asked as she sat down. Before the silver boy was able to say anything Cooro started speaking for him.

"Husky burnt his house down last night," he said cheerfully. Nana's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she spun towards Husky. He quickly started speaking before she could even ask what in the world that meant.

"Cooro! That is _not _what happened! There was a fire in my kitchen, and yeah we have to replace a few things but I didn't burn the entire house down!" he defended, smacking the black haired boy upside the head as he did. Nana seemed to calm down considerably at this, but it was obvious there was still a million questions running through her head, which she promptly started to ask.

"How did the fire start? Was anyone hurt?" she asked. Husky just sighed and shook his head as he answered.

"It was fine, Keane and I were the only ones home. I was cooking and got distracted, the stove caught on fire," he said. Slowly Nana nodded, letting the information sink in. After a second Husky sighed, figuring that he'd have to bring it up eventually, if not Cooro probably would.

"Keane's the one who distracted me. He kind of… found Senri," he mumbled. Once again it very quickly caught the brunette's attention, and although she looked surprised, it wasn't quite as bad as when Cooro had said he'd burnt his house to the ground.

"He was okay with Senri staying with you guys after you explained everything to him, right?" she asked, and reluctantly Husky shook his head.

"N-not really. We got into a huge fight, but Senri's staying with my aunt now. You guys met her before, when, you know, with the funeral and stuff. She's moving into town next week, so we'll be able to see him again then," he said, speaking rather quickly. Nana stared at him in shock for a moment, obviously not having expected that to be the outcome. Not that Husky blamed her, he didn't think it would have ended like that either.

"Husky's aunt seemed really nice, remember? I think he'll be fine," Cooro chimed in. The silver boy just nodded in agreement, although Nana still didn't seem entirely convinced.

"Are you _sure _he'll be okay?" she asked, and Husky nodded once again.

"Yeah. She used to do a lot of foster care and things like that, so she's really good with kids. I mean, I'm not saying that Senri's a little kid, but she took in a couple teenagers as well, I think. Who knows, maybe she'll actually be able to figure out what's wrong with him," he said, and this time Nana seemed a bit more relaxed about the idea.

"I _meant_ to call you last night and tell you about it, but the whole… kitchen catching on fire thing kind of made me forget," the silver boy added on. Nana nodded once again, a slight smile on his face now.

"That's fine. So, there wasn't anything _else_ I missed from yesterday, was there?" she asked jokingly. The slightly nervous stares from the two boys across from her threw the brown haired girl completely off guard, however.

"What? ! What _else _happened?" she asked, disbelief very evident in her voice. Cooro scratched the back of his head nervously before pointing at Husky.

"He had another dream," the boy said simply. Nana just stared at him for a moment, as if she could only barely wrap her mind around that fact.

"You had a _bad day_ yesterday," she said at last. Husky just scoffed slightly at the statement, rolling his eyes.

"You _think_?" he asked sarcastically. Even still, he quickly went over explaining the addition to his previous dream. Nana looked completely horrified by the time he finished, not that Husky blamed her. Even though he didn't go into any more detail than when he'd told Cooro, it probably wasn't hard for the brunette to fill in the blanks with her own imagination.

"So, what should we do?" Nana asked after a moment. Before either boy was able to answer her, the bell signaling the return to class rang out. Husky groaned in annoyance as he stood up.

"Go back to class, apparently," he said, irritation clear in his voice. "But as for the dreams, still not sure what we even _can _do, just hope they don't end up killing us, I guess," the silver boy suggested. Reluctantly the other two nodded, not able to think of any other option either.

"Bye Nana," Cooro said as they started out of the cafeteria. Once they were back in class, the two boys struggled to pay attention. Cooro kept nervously doodling on his papers, many of the things giving Husky chills and distracting him even more than he already was.

A girl with sparrow wings. Keane wearing some sort of fancy coat and his hair tied back. A strange skyline that definitely wasn't any modern city he'd ever seen.

Husky was a bit annoyed that he hadn't been able to actually speak to Cooro about the drawings until after class.

"So, you were drawing a lot during class," he said a bit awkwardly as he packed up his book bag. Cooro just nodded slightly, not seeming to think it was any sort of big deal. The black haired boy acted a little strange about some of the pictures in his sketchbook too. For some reason, that didn't sit right with Husky.

"Why'd you draw Keane?" he asked after a moment. He didn't want Keane getting involved with any of this. It had nothing to do with him and when he'd saw that Cooro was drawing him a surge of panic had run through him. Cooro seemed to think for a moment, before finally shrugging.

"I don't know, I just wanted to. His hair's fun to draw, cause it's all wavy and stuff," he said. The silver boy nodded hesitantly after a moment, although Cooro was easily able to see the worry still in his eyes. Husky never was very good at completely hiding his real emotions. The black haired boy offered him a reassuring smile as he shut his locker door.

"Don't worry, I don't think we need to worry about anything like all of this happening to him. We would have known by now," he said, and this time Husky nodded with less hesitance. He was right. It just felt normal, Keane was not whatever it was they were.

By now, the two were outside of the school and quickly dropped the subject before they actually happened upon the redhead.

Once they met up with Keane, the rest of the walk home was mostly uneventful. Cooro said goodbye to them both when they reached the church. Husky wondered if he should have asked about the other two things the black haired boy had drawn, but figured there was no changing that now. He couldn't have when Keane was there anyway, after all. He would do it tomorrow at lunch, so that Nana would be there too and they wouldn't have to repeat everything later.

When the two walked up to their house they caught sight of some sort of truck in the driveway. They both realized that it was some people to start the repairs on the kitchen, and quickly went up to their rooms in order to keep out of the way.

A few hours later they heard the men working in the kitchen leave, and the two boys went downstairs in order to find something for dinner. They ended up sitting in the living room eating cold sandwiches and chips, tools thrown all over the dining room table from the workers.

Their heads jolted towards the front door when it opened suddenly, surprising them both. They stared in confusion when their father walked though the door, not able to understand why he would be home so early. The workers had already left, so if he wanted to talk to them about what they were doing or money or something then he already missed his chance.

"Oh good, you two are here," the tall man said. Husky slowly nodded, while Keane didn't do anything but stare at them.

"Did you want something?" the silver boy asked after a moment, a bit unnerved when he nodded and took a seat in a chair across from the two.

"Yes, I needed to talk to you both," he said, sounding very formal, business like. Husky and Keane glanced at each other, both feeling a combination of worry and hesitance. The younger boy guessed there was a _chance_ this could go well, but really it seemed like the possibility of this going horribly wrong was much, much higher.

"About… the fire?" Husky guessed, once again surprised when his father shook his head.

"No, not that," he started, hesitating slight before continuing, as if he wasn't really sure how to go on. That did absolutely nothing to ease the two boy's minds at all.

"I've been talking to your aunt," he said at last. Slowly the two nodded, Husky imagining a million different things that could happen now. Was Crystala going to try to take them away? Or maybe she'd told him about Senri. He didn't see why she would bring that up to him, though.

Or maybe she just managed to convince him to give that whole 'parenting' thing he'd heard so much about a try.

The blond man sighed, not looking either child in the eyes as he spoke next.

"With everything that's happened recently… we thought it'd be for the best to get you two some… help," he said. Keane didn't say anything, just staring at the man and still seeming rather confused about the whole thing. Husky on the other hand felt his body go rigid, warning bells flaring in his head the second he heard the word help.

He'd gone through this conversation before, and he _really_ didn't want to have to repeat it.

"What kind of help?" he asked quickly, although he already knew the answer. Dang it, he didn't want to have to go back to that annoying woman. She was always so fake happy, and as far as Husky was concerned had a few of her own problems she needed to work out before trying to fix other people's.

"We're putting you two in therapy. After all this tragedy-" their father started, but Husky quickly cut him off, shaking his head profusely.

"No! I'm not going back there! That woman has no idea what she's talking about!" he yelled. His father didn't seem swayed at all though, hardly even surprised by his outburst, simply sighing at the child's refusal.

"Myrrha, I never thought it was a good idea taking you out in the first place. Besides, this was your aunt's idea, and I happen to agree with her this time," he said firmly. Before Husky was able to start arguing back Keane scoffed beside him, crossing his arms and glaring at the tall man across from them.

It was definitely weird, seeing Keane angry and defiant of all things. It just didn't seem like him at all, at least not anymore and definitely not towards their intimidating father.

"Of course it was her idea. You never actually think about us on your _own_, after all," he spat. Their father looked shocked by the accusation for a moment, before quickly getting a hold of himself once again.

"That's not true. I can understand why you would feel that way and I'm sorry, but that's a part of the reason why it would be good to do this," he told them, although Keane didn't look like he believe a word of it. Husky was still too furious about what the man was trying to make them do to take any note of his apology.

"I don't care, I'm not going back there!" the silver boy yelled. Once again their father sighed, not exactly used to many people arguing back when he ordered something done.

"Yes you are. We're not debating this," he commanded.

"I hate that woman! I don't care if you do make me go there I'm not talking to her!" the boy spat.

"No one said you were going back to the same therapist Myrrha, so you can stop yelling about that," the blond man said plainly, effectively quieting Husky for a moment. He's just assumed he was going to be forced back with that bothersome lady. He'd never considered that they might actually end up picking out a new one for some reason.

"What?" he managed to ask after a moment. Their father nodded as he answered.

"I've already talked to your school. They have a professional child physiatrist who comes in every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you two will be seeing him on those days until at least the end of the school year," their father explained. Keane and Husky stared at him for a moment as the information sunk in.

Husky managed to pull himself back together after a few seconds to frown, still not very happy about this situation at all. Sure, it was a bit better than having to go back to that woman, but he _highly_ doubted that he'd like this new one any better. If anything, it just got in the way more because now he had to miss actual classes to go see him.

"I'm still not going. I'm _not _crazy!" he yelled. Once again the tall man sighed, almost seeming like he was having flashbacks to the last time he had this conversation with the stubborn boy nearly five years ago.

"No one's saying either of you are crazy. This is a very stressful time for everyone and it'd be best if-" before he was able to finish Husky quickly got to his feet. Without another word he ran up the stairs, slamming the door to his room behind him.

Husky scowled as he slumped on his bed. He couldn't believe this! He'd spent years with a stupid therapist and it _never _helped him! If anything, he was better off now than he'd been before, with his friends actually helping him. Sure, things were still really crazy and his friends weren't perfect, but it was still much better than any therapist.

Of course no one would ever understand that though.

When he heard his door open, he knew it was Keane without having to turn around. His father wouldn't have sounded quite as calm if he had to come check on him.

"Hey, you gonna be okay?" the redhead asked. Reluctantly, Husky nodded. He most certainly wasn't pleased about any of this, but it was by far not the worst thing that had happened to him.

"He's an idiot," the silver boy mumbled. Keane chuckled slightly and nodded in agreement. It was clear that he was still angry about all of this as well, but he seemed to be taking it a bit better that Husky was.

"I know, I don't want to go either. It'll work out though," he reassured. The younger boy didn't do anything, still lying slumped on his bed glaring out the window. Keane frowned as he watched the younger boy sulk. It was clear that he'd hated going to therapy when he was younger, probably due in no small part to the constant teasing the redhead had done to him about it once he'd found out.

"Are you sure you're gonna be alright?" he asked again, and once again the silver boy nodded.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," he said, and reluctantly the older boy let the subject drop a bit. Hopefully Myrrha would feel a bit better after he got a chance to calm down a bit and he let the information soak in.

"Okay, I'll talk to you later then, alright?" Keane said. Husky just nodded, not turning around to look at him as he answered.

"Later," he replied. Once the door was shut the silver boy glanced at his cell phone. Maybe he could talk to Cooro about this. But… he didn't actually know that he used to go to a therapist. He mentioned to him once that he was supposed to take medicine, but that was it.

For some reason, a strange sense of dread made its way into the pit of his stomach. He needed to talk to _someone_ about this, but Cooro had been acting a bit strange all day. The way he'd gotten upset when Husky had told him about his dream, and he didn't want to go complaining to him again and make him feel like it was somehow his fault. He'd also once again tried to sort of skirt away from having to talk about his pictures for some reason.

He could feel his stomach drop at the thought of the black haired boy's drawings with no explanation, and his mind started playing a million different scenarios about how meeting with the therapist could go very wrong.

What if he ended up seeing his anima mark thing, or he ended up letting something about that or the dreams slip? They'd think he was absolutely insane and put him on all kinds of medicine even worse than what he'd had to take before. He wouldn't be surprised if they tried to make him start taking all of that again without him even saying a word.

Frowning, he started searching around his bed. For some reason, his gut was telling him not to call Cooro about this. Finding the small paper where he'd written down Nana's number, he hesitated just slightly.

Sighing, he quickly dialed the number, hoping that the annoying girl would hurry and pick up.

* * *

Haha, anyone who remembers my poll from quite some time ago probably knows where this is going. And to anyone who doesn't remember or picked up the story after I'd taken it down, then you're just going to have to wait and see. I am quite excited for this though.

Anyway, as I said before, thanks a bunch for reading, and please review. Your opinions are always appreciated here.


	52. Chapter 49

Hello internet. So we've got ourselves another chapter, and I wasn't ridiculously late. Yay for that. I don't really have much to say today though, so how about we just get on with the story, shall we?

Chapter 49

Husky waited nervously as the phone rang. After a few moments he heard the repetitive ringing stop when someone on the other end of the line finally pick up.

"Hello, Alba residence, can I help you?" a woman asked. Husky could tell immediately that it wasn't Nana though. She sounded quite a bit older, and really tired for some reason. Glancing at a clock on his wall, it was already past nine o'clock at night, so there was that. He hadn't actually realized the time when he decided to call. Quickly gathering himself, the silver boy started speaking.

"Um, hello. Is Nana there? I, uh, I go to her school," he stumbled slightly. Thankfully though, the woman either didn't notice or care, quickly answering him.

"Yes, I'll go get her for you," she said, and Husky nodded, keeping his ear to the phone as he waited. On the other end of the line he could hear the woman calling for her, saying something along the lines of 'there's a boy on the phone for you.' For some reason, it made the silver child cringe as he heard that. Maybe he should have just called Cooro instead…

"Hello?" Nana's confused voice asked, knocking him out of his internal debate. Well, there was no going back now, she'd just get angry if he went and hung up on her, after all. Not that there was any way for her to actually be able to know it was him if he did, but still.

"Hey, it's me," he started. "Was that your mom?" the boy asked next, mostly just fumbling for some sort of topic.

"Oh, hi Husky. Yeah, that was her," the brunette girl answered. Husky wasn't quite sure what to say next, even though he'd been the one to call in the first place. Thankfully, he guessed, Nana didn't wait very long before speaking again.

"Why did you call me? Is everything okay?" she asked. Husky quickly nodded, more on instinct than any actual feelings.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I guess… I mean, I don't know, some more stuff happened. It's not as bad as yesterday. I just thought I should probably let someone know though, and seeing as I didn't actually call you yesterday…" he mumbled. On the other end of the line Nana nodded, having figured out as soon as she heard it was Husky speaking that something had most likely happened. He wasn't really the type to call just for fun.

"Did you already call Cooro?" she asked. Husky sighed softly. He figured she would probably ask him something like that.

"No, for some reason I'm not really sure if I should," he mumbled. That quickly caught her attention, the young girl moving to sit on a couch as she spoke.

"Why not? What happened, does it have to do with him?" the brunette quickly started asking him. On his end of the line Husky shook his head. That was the strange part, Cooro had absolutely _nothing _to do with any of this, so why should he be any more hesitant talking to him about it than to Nana? It didn't make any sense, but for some reason he was.

He just didn't want to upset him, but he had no idea why any of this would. It would probably only be _worse _if Cooro found out he tried to keep it from him for some reason.

"No, he has nothing to do with it, I don't know why, but I just felt like it would be a bad idea to call him," he explained. Nana nodded, although she still didn't really understand.

"Oh…okay. So, will you tell me what happened then?" she asked once again. Husky hesitated for another moment before finally sighing and nodding. This was the whole reason he'd called, after all. Might as well just get it over with.

"It's my dad, he's being an idiot again. He decided to put me and Keane back in therapy," he said, just a bit too quickly to actually pass as casual.

"What? Why's he doing that?" Nana asked, sounding very confused. Husky shrugged, repeatedly folding up the small paper still in his hand as he answered.

"Because of everything that happened with Dylana and stuff. Apparently my aunt went and yelled at him that he wasn't handling the whole thing good enough or was neglecting us or something like that, and so they decided to do this," he said. Nana nodded, that did actually make a lot of sense. If anything, under normal circumstances it actually sounded like a pretty good idea.

"Oh, well, I'm sure it'll probably be okay. I mean, it's not like- hey. Did you say _back_ in therapy?" the brunette asked, cutting herself off once she realized his wording. Husky cringed slightly, not having noticed that he'd went and put it like that.

"Y-yeah. It's nothing, I just used to go when I was little. I haven't been there for almost two years now," he mumbled. Pausing for a moment, he quickly added, "Keane never went before. Our dad just wants us both to go now." Husky finished. Nana nodded, letting the information soak a bit.

"Okay but… you're only _ten_. How old were you when they put you in therapy the first time?" she asked. Husky sighed, he really didn't blame her for asking that. Sometimes he wondered himself just what it was his father had been thinking.

"Seven. My dad's crazy," he told her. Nana couldn't help but nod in agreement. What would make you put a seven year old in therapy? Sure, Husky did have a few problems with that anxiety and stuff she guessed, but that still seemed like a really weird thing to do.

"Why didn't your mom stop him?" she asked, instantly realizing afterwards that might not have been the smartest thing to do. She didn't know the full story behind Husky's family at all, just that he and Keane had the same dad, and he used to live with his mom. Really, she didn't even have any idea why he _wasn't _anymore. Yeah, that definitely could have been a very bad question.

Thankfully when he answered her, he didn't sound upset or anything like that at all. Still simply a bit exasperated about this whole subject.

"Oh, she tried, believe me. She managed to get me out of it after a year though, so at least there was that," he told her. Nana nodded, although her mind was still caught on why Husky's living arrangements had changed. Well, he didn't really sound uncomfortable about the whole thing, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to just ask him.

"Why don't you live with her anymore?" the brunette asked, startling Husky quite a bit.

"Huh?" he asked, not entirely sure if he'd even heard the question correctly.

"I asked why don't you live with your mom anymore? You said before you were up until a little while ago," she repeated. On the other end of the line the silver haired boy stayed silent for a few seconds, suddenly making Nana a bit worried. Maybe it hadn't been the best idea to ask him after all.

After a moment she heard him sigh, feeling slightly relieved that he didn't just decide to hang up on her or something like that.

"She died. About a month or so before I met you guys, but that's not important right now," he told her. Nana couldn't help but flinch slightly at his words though. She should have known it was something like that. After all, when Husky talked about her, he didn't sound angry or anything like that. It actually seemed like he probably liked her.

"Oh… I'm sorry," she said. Once again she could hear the boy sigh on the other end of the line.

"Whatever," he mumbled. Nana ignored the slightly rude answer, he didn't actually mean it, after all. Husky just wasn't good with emotions. That was as close to a thank you as she was ever going to get from him, but for some reason that didn't actually bother her like it normally would.

"But yeah, that's really all I had to say. I start _tomorrow _too. Have you ever seen the school psychiatrist?" he asked, quickly changing the subject back. Nana thought for a few seconds, shaking her head afterwards.

"I didn't even know we had one," she answered truthfully. Husky just nodded. He guessed that made sense, especially since the guy only came in a few days of the week anyway. It wasn't likely that anyone who didn't spend a lot of time in the office or actually went to him knew a lot about him.

"Yeah, me either," he said. The silver boy was about to think of some reason to start saying goodbye when Nana proceeded to cut him off.

"So, why don't you want to tell Cooro about this?" she asked. Husky had to think for a moment, since really, he had no _idea! _This was the kind of stuff that he actually had been taking to Cooro about lately, so why this topic was different, he just didn't know. He was starting to second guess keeping it from him though. It might be worse if the black haired boy thought he didn't trust him or something like that.

"I don't know. There was just something off about him today, I didn't want to bother him. Do you think it'd be worse if I _didn't _tell him though?" he asked. Nana frowned slightly as she thought. She hadn't noticed anything different about Cooro, but Husky did get to spend more time with him than she did. The brunette shrugged as she shifted the phone from one ear to the other before answering.

"It'd probably be better to just get it over with. I can't imagine how Cooro could possibly get upset over something like this," she told him. Reluctantly Husky nodded. That made sense after all.

"Okay, I should probably go do that now before it ends up getting too late then," he said. Nana nodded, quickly glancing up at the clock while she did. Almost nine thirty, she needed to start getting ready for bed soon anyway.

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow," she said. Pausing for a moment, she quickly added, "good luck," although she wasn't entirely sure for what. For talking to Cooro? That didn't really seem right. They were pretty much best friends after all, so even though Husky was worried, she doubted this could really go wrong for any sort of reason.

Maybe for the therapy tomorrow? That might have been it. Although he'd already gone through it before, he'd probably be just fine, even if it wasn't exactly something he wanted to do.

"Thanks," he answered automatically, before saying goodbye as well. When he hung up the phone, he didn't quite realize how surprised Nana was at actually hearing him say that.

Husky sighed as he stared at the glowing numbers on his phone. 9:28 pm. Maybe he should just talk to him tomorrow. He was sure that Cooro wouldn't actually mind him calling late, but he didn't want to bother the nun who lived there as well. He'd understand if he waited to tell him at school instead.

Why was he trying to make excuses not to call Cooro? This had _nothing _to do with him so there was absolutely no reason to be acting like this.

Quickly, before he ended up changing his mind, he dialed in the church's number. After a few seconds, he heard someone on the other end of the line pick up.

"Hello, how may I help you?" Husky couldn't help but sigh in relief at hearing Cooro's voice.

"Hey, it's Husky," he said, attempting to sound casual.

"Oh, hi Husky, everything okay?" the black haired boy asked, sounding more curious than actually worried. Husky had a feeling that he probably was more than a little concerned about why he'd called so late though, Cooro was just better at hiding it than he was. The silver boy nodded as he tried to figure out just how to explain all of this. It had gone pretty well with Nana, hopefully this would be the same way.

"Yeah, everything's fine, don't worry. My dad just got the bright idea to send me and Keane to therapy," he told him, getting straight to the point. Cooro blinked, a bit taken back by the announcement.

"Therapy? Why'd he decide to do that?" the older boy asked. Husky quickly went into explaining the same thing he'd told Nana just a few moments ago, about how his aunt had been angry with how he was handling everything with Dylana, and this had been their solution.

"Wow, are you gonna be okay with all of this?" Cooro ask after he was finished, and reluctantly the silver boy nodded.

"Yeah, I used to go when I was younger, so it'll be fine. I just thought I'd tell you, since I already called Nana to tell her. I didn't think she'd like it if I dropped even _more _news on her at lunch again," he said. Cooro couldn't help but smile slightly at he nodded. He didn't blame Nana for being so surprised by everything Husky had told her earlier today, it definitely had been a lot to take in all at once.

"Okay, that's good then," he said happily. Husky frowned slightly at the response, despite how normal it was of the other boy. Where in the world had he thought that this conversation would go wrong? Cooro was acting just as he always was, so what had been his deal earlier?

Shaking his head, he tried to just push all of that out of his mind. He was getting much too paranoid with everything that had been happening as of late. Maybe he just needed to try to calm down a bit.

"Alright, well, I guess I'll talk to you at school tomorrow then," he said. On the other end of the line Cooro cheerfully said goodbye before hanging up.

That had been… strangely normal. Placing his phone on the side table, Husky groaned as he leaned back on his bed. What in the world had he been thinking, Cooro getting upset over something like this? It was ridiculous.

Whatever, it was probably just because he'd been off all day. Or at least, ever since he told him about his dream. Thankfully, it seemed like he'd gotten over it by the time he called him. Well, he didn't exactly see anything bothering Cooro for very long anyway, so it was probably to be expected.

Slowly, he let himself fall into a light sleep. It was a bit earlier than he'd been able to go to bed recently, but that was probably a good thing.

When Husky woke up the next morning, he couldn't help but be grateful that the dreams had decided to leave him alone. Quickly he got dressed and ready for school. As much as he wanted to ignore it, once he got downstairs Keane asked him about what they were supposed to do for their first little therapy session today.

"Do you think we should go to the office when we get to school? If they want to tell us when we're supposed to go, or something," he asked. Husky shrugged as he opened the door and started out, the redhead close behind him.

"Don't know. I'm not going to, anyway. If they want me to come they can come get me themselves," he said. Keane frowned slightly, but reluctantly nodded. The rest of the walk to school was mostly normal, Cooro didn't comment on anything he told the black haired boy last night when they met up.

Once they reached their lockers though and Keane was gone, Husky found himself sighing loudly, leaning his head against the closed metal door. Cooro frowned at his actions, a look of concern on his face as he quickly turned towards the younger boy.

"Husky, are you okay?" he asked. Husky nodded, pushing himself off of his locker so that he could actually open it and get his books.

"Yeah, I'm just not looking forward to this whole therapy thing. Did I tell you I start today?" he asked, and Cooro shook his head. He still looked a bit worried when he answered.

"No, do you have to go right after school?" the black haired boy asked back. Husky frowned as he nodded, zipping his book bag back up as he did so.

"It's during school, which is ever worse since now I'll have to miss classes three times a week on top of everything else," he explained. When he looked back over at Cooro, he felt himself freeze up slightly. For a split second, something seemed really… wrong. There wasn't any emotion on his face at all; he was completely blank.

Before Husky could even fully register what was going on Cooro was frowning slightly, beginning to tilt his head in innocent confusion. There still seemed something just… just off about the whole thing, but Husky was cut off before he could try to ask what was going on.

"But you're rich Husky. Why wouldn't you pay to go see a real therapist instead of just going to the school's?" he asked. The silver boy stared at him for a moment before answering.

"I don't know, none of this was my idea. I guess my dad didn't think he had the time to drag me and Keane around to therapy and just decided this would be easier," he guessed. Slowly, Cooro nodded, before smiling once again.

"Oh, okay then. Well, I'm sure it'll be fine either way, try not to worry so much," he said happily, slinging his book bag over his shoulder and starting towards their classroom without another word. Rather reluctantly, Husky started after him. When he was about to ask Cooro what all that had just been about, the black haired boy started talking happily, as if none of that had ever happened.

It didn't sit right with Husky _at all._ But for some reason, he couldn't make himself tell Cooro to just be quiet and ask what was wrong. When they reached their classroom, the two went inside, quickly sitting down at their desks.

Mrs. Brighton smiled at him, placing a square slip of neon orange paper down on his desk. Without any hesitation he picked it up to see just what it said. He'd seen other kids get them all the time, passes to the nurse or office or an early dismissal. On a line with the word destination next to it, it said '_Office' _in a rushed handwriting while the time line below said '_10:35_.'

Husky quickly said thanks to the teacher, stuffing the note in his folder afterwards. Afterwards she managed to get the class together slightly faster than normal, beginning teaching right afterwards.

The sliver boy didn't really pay as much attention as he probably should have been, seeing as he was going to be missing class anyway. Even still, he kept glancing up at the clock, watching the time pass. As much as he didn't want to go, he couldn't help but be a bit curious as to what it would be like, how different from it would be the last one he'd been to.

The other half of his mind was focused on Cooro. He seemed to be completely back to his normal self now, half listening and taking down what Mrs. Brighton wrote on the board, half doodling in his own little world.

After what felt like forever the clock finally ticked over to 10:35, and Husky slowly pushed himself up from his chair. Without a word he flashed the bright orange note up so that the teacher could see it. Mrs. Brighton nodded, which Husky took as permission to leave. Quickly he pushed his books into his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, starting out of the room.

What if he just didn't go? Maybe he could hide out in the bathroom until lunch, and then come back to class afterwards and pretend nothing ever happened.

No, they'd probably go looking for him, and even if they didn't find him, he'd still be in trouble and they'd no doubt call his father. As much as he wanted to, there was no point in making this whole thing even more complicated than it already was.

Walking into the main office, he went up to the counter. The woman sitting at a desk on the other side looked up at him, but didn't make any move to actually get up. That was fine by him, he just needed to know where he was supposed to go anyway.

"Um, do you know where the school psychiatrist's office is? I'm supposed to go there now," he asked. The woman smiled and nodded, pointing at a doorway on the opposite end of the office. He'd noticed it before, it looked like it led to where all the faculty stuff was, he guessed.

"Just go down that hallway dear. It's the third door on the right, it should be open already," she said. Husky nodded, quickly saying thank you and starting down where she said.

He was right about it being full of faculty stuff. The hallway seemed cleaner than the rest of the school, and the only door he saw open on his way just had a single copier machine in it and a chair. When he reached the third door on the right, it was open, just as the office woman had said.

Peaking inside, he was two chairs next to each other on one wall of the small office. They were padded and actually looked comfortable to sit in, unlike most of the chairs in school. A small table was in between the chairs, and a desk was pushed into one of the opposite corners. A bunch of those sickenly sweet motivational posters were hug on the walls, immediately annoying Husky slightly.

What was the most surprising though, was that the office was empty. Frowning, Husky took a few steps back to look up at the nameplate hanging on the top of the door, trying to make sure he was in the right place.

_Fly Greena Aight- E&M School Therapist._

Yeah, seems like it was the right place. Shrugging, he started into the office and sat down in one of the chairs, placing his book bag down by his feet. Maybe he'd forgotten he had a new patient today. If that was the case he could hopefully just sit there until lunch, then they couldn't yell at him for not going and he wouldn't actually have to talk to anybody.

Much to his annoyance though, about five minutes later he heard someone walking down the seldom seemingly used hallway. A few seconds later a tall, blond man stepped into the doorway, immediately smiling down at him and holding one hand up in a small wave.

"Hello there, sorry about the wait. You weren't here long, were you?" he asked, and Husky quickly shook his head. Staring at the man as he walked inside and over to the desk, he tried to keep himself from frowning. There was something… for some reason he looked really familiar.

Well, of course he did. He worked at the school, he'd probably seen him in the hallways before or something like that.

"My name's Mr. Greena, it's a pleasure to meet you Myrrha," the man said, and reluctantly Husky nodded. He'd actually managed to pronounce his real name right on the first try, but even still…

"Um, it's Husky," he corrected, catching Mr. Greena's attention as he sat down in the desk chair, turning it so that it faced the young boy.

"What was that?" he asked.

"My name, I like to be called Husky, if that's okay," the silver child explained, trying to keep himself polite, at least at first. So far, he hadn't done anything to immediately annoy him, but when he smiled slightly and nodded at him Husky felt a chill go down his spine that he quickly tried to ignore.

He didn't know why, but he immediately decided he didn't like this man. It wasn't because of the same reason as his last therapist, he couldn't tell what it was. There was just something… something really creepy about him.

"Of course that's fine," Mr. Greena said. Still smiling, he folded his hands in his lap as he looked the child across from him over slightly. Husky tried to hide the bit of discomfort it caused him. He hated having people size him up…

"So, your father called and said that he'd like it if you talked to us about some things," the older man said. Husky simply nodded, turning his attention away from him and towards some of the posters on the wall as he did. He guessed that Keane would have his own session with this guy later, or maybe he already had.

"Is there anything you would like to start us off with?" he asked, a cheerful, casual tone to the question.

"Not particularly," he answered automatically. He didn't want to talk about anything with anyone, except maybe his friends. This man just chuckled at his response though, and Husky found himself unable to hold back his frown as he looked back at him.

He knew he'd seen this guy somewhere before…

"Well, that's alright. How about you just tell me a little bit about yourself then? What do you like to do for fun?" he asked instead. Husky once again kept himself from looking Mr. Greena in the eyes. He was obviously trying to get him to feel more at ease talking to him about things.

He wondered what would happen if he didn't say anything during the rest of this session. It would probably get back to his Father though. It wasn't like there was actually anything he could do to him to get him to talk, but it would probably just make the time he had to go through with this even longer.

"Read?" he said at last, although it sounded a bit more like a question. He hadn't really done anything just 'for fun' in what felt like forever. They were always so busy now trying to figure out what all their dreams and crazy animas were about he didn't seem to have time anymore. Thankfully though, Mr. Greena seemed to accept that as an answer, nodding in response.

"That's nice. Anything else? Anything you like, or is perhaps interesting about yourself?" He asked.

I'm a mermaid. Husky half entertained the idea of actually saying that, seeing what the man's reaction would be. He couldn't actually say that, though, and besides, mermaid wasn't even the right term for whatever he was. He was a half-fish, anima thing. A fish anima.

"No, not really," he mumbled instead. This was not going to be fun. He had a very good feeling that the rest of his time here today would be spent very much like this, Mr. Greena asking him pointless question after pointless question until lunch came.

Husky was very quickly proven correct. What was his favorite book? He didn't know. Did he like sports? No. Did he like school? Yes. What was his favorite subject? History. So on and so forth for nearly half an hour.

Finally, the bell for lunch rang out, and Mr. Greena stood up from his desk chair. That calm, _knowing _smile that made Husky's stomach flip for some reason hadn't left his face the entire time.

"Well, I think this has been very productive, but you'd best be getting to lunch now. I'll see you on Friday," he said cheerfully. Slowly, Husky nodded, staring at the man one last time, once again unable to keep himself from frowning in concentration.

Where had he seen him? It seemed important, not just in the hallways like he'd been trying to convince himself since he first walked into the room. For some reason though, the answer wouldn't come out from its hiding spot in the very edges of his mind.

"Goodbye Mr. Greena," he forced himself to say, picking up his book bag and starting out of the room. Once he was out of the office, he quickly started to his locker in order to grab his lunch.

When he made it there, the hallways were almost clear, and Cooro wasn't there. He must have already grabbed his and went off to lunch on his own. Opening his own locker, he quickly grabbed his lunch bag. Before he could close it, however, his eyes opened wide when the answer he'd been trying to think of for the last thirty minutes finally got through to him.

_Cooro._

It had been so long ago now, he'd completely forgotten about it. Right after he'd gotten his anima, when he first tried to go back to school. The first day Nana had come to sit with them at lunch.

Cooro's stupid sketchbook with the drawing of Senri in it, there had been that picture. That _creepy_ picture of a scientist guy waving who looked just like Mr. Greena. But Cooro had said himself that he didn't actually know the guy! It was just someone from one of his dreams.

That half second when Cooro's face had gone completely blank at the mention that he'd be seeing the school therapist replayed in Husky's head, and he felt his heart skip a beat as he gasped softly. He… he didn't… Cooro wouldn't _lie._

"Oh… oh no…" he mumbled, not even noticing that his lunch bag had slipped through his hands now.

Slamming his locker shut, he immediately started sprinting down the hallway towards the cafeteria, leaving his lunch slumped sideways on the hallway floor.

* * *

Ohhh, cliffhanger! Or at least, I'm pretty sure it is. But yes, it's Fly everybody! This is sure to be fun that the whole family can enjoy!  
Right, and I'm not sure if everyone would get this, but the E&M on Fly's nameplate stands for Elementary and Middle School. He does both. The name of their actual school is J. Ensor Elementary and Middle School, for all it's worth being mentioned once in chapter 2.

Anyway, I hope you all liked this chapter, thanks for reading and please review.


	53. Chapter 50

Hey there peoples. I just thought I'd point out before people start to worry, Senri _will _be coming back soon, and we are going to learn about his past along with everyone elses and such, so no worries. Some will just take longer than others, of course.

Well, anyway, how about we just get onto the next chapter, which is the fiftieth main-content chapter! Hooray!

Chapter 50

Husky practically skidded to a stop once he reached the cafeteria, his eyes immediately starting to scan the table where he and the others usually sat at. Cooro was chattering on to Nana about something, but he couldn't actually hear him over the noise of all the others students combined with how far away he still was. He couldn't see what Nana was doing either, the girl's back turned to him.

Cooro seemed to catch sight of him out of the corner of his eye, quickly focusing on the boy and smiling over at him. There was still something off though. Even from this distance, there was just something… worry? Anticipation? Husky couldn't tell, whatever it was the black haired boy managed to hide it well.

Steeling himself, Husky clenched his fists before starting over towards the two as fast as he could without running. Nana had turned around to be able to look back at him now, having realized that Cooro was looking off behind her. The brunette also offered him a smile, but there seemed to be a different emotion than happiness behind hers as well. Unlike Cooro's though, it just seemed to be some sort of encouragement or something. He must have told her that he had been at the therapist's already when they didn't come to lunch together.

"Hi Husky! How was the -" Cooro started happily, but the silver boy didn't let him finish, immediately cutting him off.

"You _lied_," he said plainly, or well, he wished it was plainly. His voice had decided to crack ever so slightly as he spoke, staring down at the older boy. He hadn't even tried to actually sit yet, his mind still wildly spinning with a million different theories.

Cooro's eyes had widened in shock at his accusation, his mouth hanging open slightly as he tried to process what Husky had said and recollect himself. That hint of worry that the silver boy had noticed before seemed to magnify practically ten times, although the deep confusion radiating off of the black haired boy almost managed to smother it into nothingness.

"Husky! What in the world are you talking about?" Nana asked, coming to herself much faster than Cooro had managed to. Her words did manage to jog him out of his shock though, quickly starting to speak as well.

"Y-yeah, I didn't - I would never lie to you," he said, sounding like he genuinely meant it. Maybe he _did _mean it. What if Cooro really had only seen the man in his dreams before, or just hadn't even realized he'd saw him before then? He'd been able to predict much crazier things after all, so maybe this was just one of then.

No, if that was the case, then why hadn't he told them? The dreams coming real wasn't something they could keep from each other! If they didn't try to figure it out together then they might never be able to, especially if information was being withheld. They were always getting on his case about not hiding stuff, so it wasn't like they were allowed to do it either.

And besides, the way Cooro had acted before… he _must _have known…

"Yes, you did. The guy in that picture, it's Mr. Greena! You _said_ you didn't really know him but you _do_," he explained, barely managing to keep himself from sounding like he was whining. Both Nana and Cooro still seemed to be almost hopelessly confused though, until finally Cooro's eyes widened in realization.

"Oh… _that_ picture. I'd forgotten about that…" he mumbled at last, and Husky just nodded. Nana stared at the two for a moment, before what they were referring to finally seemed to click for her as well.

"Oh yeah, the one of that scientist guy, right? That feels like so long ago now… Wait a minute, you mean _that _guy is your therapist, Husky?" Nana asked, already starting to sound rather worried as well. Neither of them had particularly liked the man in the picture, although they couldn't exactly put a finger on why. Once again the silver haired boy nodded, before quickly turning his attention back towards Cooro.

The older boy was frowning just slightly now, not looking either of them in the eyes as he stared down at the table.

"I… I really didn't lie. He _was_ just in my dreams when I drew that picture and showed you guys, really," he said quietly. Husky felt himself sighing in relief slightly at this, his body relaxing a bit and managing to unclench his fists again. The thought of Cooro actually lying to them felt really, really wrong. That definitely didn't seem like it was the case now though, the black haired boy sounding completely genuine.

Even still though, that left the fact that he hadn't told them about it once he did find out the guy was real.

"Okay, but why didn't you _tell_ us that someone from one of your dreams turned out to be a real person? We can't afford to keep stuff like that a secret if we're ever gonna be able to find out what's going on," he asked. Cooro still wouldn't look at either of them as he answered, shrugging his shoulders just barely enough for them to even see.

"I just didn't want to worry you guys, I saw him at the church first, before I even knew he worked at the school. Mother Superior had said he used to come there a lot when I was little, so I was hoping it was just a coincidence," he said, only looking up again once he was finished.

Husky stared at him for a moment longer, trying to make sure he was actually telling the truth.

It wasn't like Cooro to lie though. At least, not to them.

"Alright, but just don't do that again, okay? Even if you figure out it probably doesn't really has anything to do with all of this stuff, don't go making me freak out like that again," the silver haired boy said at last. Realizing he was still standing up, Husky quickly took his seat next to Cooro, who was managing to smile at him again.

"Okay, I'm really sorry though Husky, I didn't mean to worry you," Cooro apologized, sounding genuinely regretful about the whole thing. Husky slumped his chin into his hands before answering, closing his eyes as he did. All of that had gone and given him a head ache now, dang it.

"It's fine," he said simply, not opening his eyes to actually look at him as he did. It was true though, if this whole thing was just a misunderstanding, then there was no reason to be upset about it. He knew Cooro would never do something to intentionally mislead or worry them. Nana was frowning now though, looking back and forth between the two boys.

"Are you sure the therapist guy really doesn't have anything to do with all this weird stuff, though? Even if you met him as a little kid, it's still a little strange that you had a dream about him and everything, if he just used to come to your church," she said. Husky actually opened his eyes to look over at Cooro now, interested in what he might say.

There was something about that man that he didn't like for some reason, so he really hoped that he wasn't involved with any of this. Nana made a good point though, it was a bit strange to just be a coincidence, especially with how some of their other dreams had turned out.

"I can't say for complete sure, but I doubt it. Neither of you have had dreams about him, right? And I only had it once too, not really reoccurring like the others are," he said. Slowly, Nana nodded in reluctant agreement. Husky didn't say anything, just turning back forward and closing his eyes again.

"Oh, Husky! Where's your lunch?" Cooro asked after a few moments, having just noticed that the silver boy didn't have any food with him this time. Husky sat up straight and looked around him, just now noticing that he was right. Where _had _his lunch gone…?

"Oh yeah, I don't… Um, I went to my locker to get it, but then I…" he trailed off, trying to remember. Urg, that was right! That was when he'd remembered about the drawing and kind of freaked out. He must have dropped it or something in his rush to go see Cooro.

"I guess I just forgot it. Whatever, I'm not really hungry anyway," he finished. The other two children glanced at each other uncertainly though, not really liking the idea of their friend not eating. Sure, he was really skinny, he guessed, but he _did _eat. He wouldn't die from skipping just one meal.

Although coming to think of it, he hadn't eaten any breakfast today either… Well whatever, he'd still be fine. He'd just eat once he got home.

"Here," Cooro said, offering the younger boy half of his sandwich. The only reason he still had it was because of his habit of eating any of the fruit in his lunch first. Husky quickly shook his head though, pushing it back over to him.

"It's fine, I just said I'm not hungry anyway," he said. Cooro frowned and handed it back over to him, even more firmly this time.

"But it's my fault you forgot your lunch in the first place. Please eat it Husky, you'll be hungry by the time school's out if you don't anyway," he pleaded, and reluctantly the silver boy sighed and grabbed the half-sandwich. By the time lunch was over Nana had forced him to eat about half of her crackers as well, despite the fact that he kept telling them he wasn't actually hungry.

A bit thankfully though, besides the fact that he actually was just a little bit hungry despite whatever he said, it did manage to distract them from asking about how the whole therapy thing had gone. He didn't really know what he wanted to say yet, he wasn't sure how he felt about the whole ordeal.

There was no need to worry them with his innate dislike of that man though, especially with the possibility that he might have the slightest of a connection to their dreams and such. He guessed that Cooro would probably handle it fine, although he wasn't entirely sure. Even though he'd said there was nothing to worry about with that man, that half second from this morning kept replaying in his head, leaving just a bit of doubt still there. Besides, Nana might end up getting really paranoid about the whole thing anyway, which they didn't need either.

Finally, class had ended as well and they were able to leave school once again. Husky couldn't help but check when he went to his locker to see if his lunch was still on the floor somewhere, but it was nowhere in sight. He guessed one of the janitors had come along and thrown it away or something. It didn't exactly matter though, he wasn't going to eat it now or anything.

As he walked home with Cooro and Keane, none of them mentioned anything about therapy, which Husky was still grateful for. Once Cooro had left them at the church though, the redhead quickly starting asking him about it.

"So, how'd it go today? Was it as bad as you thought it'd be?" he asked. Once again, Husky just shrugged, not entirely sure. It wasn't bad like the old one had been, but it certainly hadn't been good either. He still had a headache from all the stress the whole situation had given him, for one thing.

"I don't know, it was different from my old therapist, but I still didn't like it. What do _you_ think of him?" he asked. He wondered if Keane felt the same… unease around that Mr. Greena guy as he did. It might have just been Cooro's picture getting to him, he probably wasn't really a bad guy. If not maybe a little creepy, but then again, Husky thought all therapists were at least a little creepy, with how they were always trying to get in your head and things like that.

Keane was frowning slightly now though, running a hand through his tangled hair as he answered.

"Eh, he was okay, I guess. I don't really know what therapists are supposed to be like, so yeah. He was a little weird, but he didn't seem like, mean or anything," Keane finished. Husky just nodded in agreement. There _was _something weird about him definitely, but it'd probably be fine.

When the two children got home, there were several workers in their kitchen once again, causing them to both head upstairs without a word. Okay, maybe it was a good thing that Cooro and Nana had forced him to eat, seeing as he didn't really want to go in their while people were working. Hopefully they'd be finished with everything soon, he didn't particularly like coming home and finding people he didn't know wandering about.

In his room, Husky sighed as he collapsed onto his bed. Even if he'd gotten a chance to eat, any medicine he could take for his headache was in the kitchen cabinet. Oh well, he could take some once those men left, if the pain hadn't gone away by itself by then anyway.

The silver haired child tried to keep his mind occupied for the rest of the evening. That was one thing he actually liked about homework, it gave him something to do. It felt like his brain would never stop firing off random things if he didn't have something to concentrate on, and most of those thoughts were not helpful in the least.

Not that math homework really seemed all that helpful right now either, but it didn't hurt his head like thinking about the animas and dreams and everything else that was happening to them did. With math, there was only one answer he needed to find, and it wasn't particularly hard to find it either.

It was simple, just black and white, right or wrong. Unlike the rest of the world around him.

…

Cooro did not find math very simple. Their teacher had said that this new stuff was the easy part too, and that what they were going to start doing next week was the hard section. He wasn't looking forward to that at all, this was already giving him a headache when he tried to wrap his mind around it.

Sighing, the black haired boy pushed himself away from his desk, completely lost on his homework by this point. He just didn't understand how anyone could find any of this stuff easy.

Of course, the reason he was struggling so badly might have had to do with the fact that his mind was split at the moment. Giving one last glance at his math textbook, Cooro decided to give it a break for the moment, walking over to his small bed and collapsing into a heap.

What was he supposed to do now? At least Husky didn't seem like he was upset with him anymore, after he explained what had happened. It definitely unnerved him that his friend would be going to see Mr. Fly so often now, but there wasn't anything he could do about it. Maybe it would actually be good for Husky. With everything he'd been thought lately, some help might be what he actually needs.

That didn't make him feel any better about lying to him though.

Quickly shaking his head, Cooro tried to push any of those thoughts away. It'd be fine. He just had to keep telling himself that.

Closing his eyes, he started rubbing his forehead slightly as he tried to think. This wasn't the only thing bothering him recently. Husky and Nana were having those dreams, even more than _he _was. Even though the silver boy had told him not to worry about it, he was. It just wasn't fair that they had to keep going though all of these horrible things, while he seemed to be getting off scot-free. Well, maybe not really _free_, but still better off than either of them were.

And who even knows what had happened to Senri… Not even the teen himself seemed to remember, which definitely didn't sound like the best thing in the world.

Just what was he supposed to do about any of this though? Husky would probably tell him that there _wasn't _anything he could do, but that didn't sit well with him at all. He didn't like being powerless. He wanted to be able to help somehow.

Sighing, Cooro quickly got up from his bed to lock the door. Turning back around, he allowed his wings to unfurl themselves as he flopped down on his bed once again. He wished he could actually go out and fly, but it was the middle of the day. Even at night, the risk of something horrible happening was much too great. He'd only done it that one time because he was really upset and Husky hadn't wanted him to be there anymore. It'd been the quickest way to leave.

He really did like his wings though. But he wasn't really sure how the others all felt about their animas. Husky didn't really seem to think about it much, beyond trying to figure out what it all meant and why it was happening. The actual powers it seemed like he tended to just ignore. He had used it that day after the funeral though.

He kind of doubted Senri had any real opinions of his at all. Knowing the teen, he probably forgot he even had it whenever it wasn't brought to his attention or he wasn't using it. He didn't even think Nana had even brought hers out yet, or at least if she had, it hadn't been in front of him. He had a pretty good idea of what it looked like though, basing it off of the dreams, at least.

Closing his eyes once again, Cooro allowed himself to fall into a light sleep. His wings were still out, but his door was locked, so it'd be fine. He just needed to at least try to relax after everything that had happened today. If he couldn't fly, then at the very least he could have his anima… on? Activated? Activated sounded better…

Cooro didn't know where he was. It was really dark, and cold too. His body was curled up in on itself in order to try to save as much heat as it possibly could, but the fact that he was wearing a short sleeved shirt and shorts did very little to help him. As if to make things worse, the floor was a hard stone, feeling like ice as he sat on it.

There were a few small slits of light leaking in from somewhere overhead, but the only thing he could see in them were small flecks of dust blowing in the light, as well as his own breath every so often.

Why was he in here? H-he hadn't done anything wrong. He's just been… just been… his mind was so stunned from the cold that he couldn't remember what he'd been doing anymore, but he knew it wasn't bad.

His tiny fingers felt completely frozen, and the boy slowly closed his eyes. He didn't feel like he could move at all. If he was able to rub his arms or something, that might have generated some heat, but it was like he was made of stone. Maybe if he just fell asleep, when he woke up he'd be allowed to come out. It would make the time go faster at least, and he wouldn't have to be aware of the numbing cold anymore.

"Hey. S-stop that," a voice in the darkness said, surprising Cooro and making him open his eyes. The other person sounded just as shaky and cold as he felt, and he strained his eyes to try to see them. All he could focus on though was a few flashes of red in the little lines of light.

"Don't be such a w-wimp, Cooro. It's j-just a little c-cold," the red lines of light said, and just barely Cooro managed to nod his head.

"S-sorry," he stuttered back, teeth chattering when he attempted to speak. The lines seemed to shift slightly, and he assumed that the other person must be nodding. It was taking most of his focus not to fall asleep now, but at least it was something to focus on besides the cold. He just wanted to get somewhere warm…

Suddenly, the tiny lines of light seemed to burst, filling the entire room he was in. The boy instantly closed his eyes at the now blinding light though, still unable to see anything but the tiny little streaks of red and his own breath.

When he opened his eyes again, Cooro was back in his own room. The nearly deathly cold was still inside of him though, and the boy slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, letting his dark wings curl around him in an attempt at heating himself up.

It actually worked, but that might have been because the cold was more in his mind than actually real. Pulling a blanket over and draping himself up further, he guessed it was rather cold in real life too. The church was pretty old after all, and wind tended to leak in sometimes through the walls, making the place either really hot in the summer or very chilly in the winter.

Slowly, the black winged boy's mind started going back over his dream. There wasn't the same fear and frantic curiosity to figure out this dream meant as it was with the ones that had his wings in them or things like that. He already knew that this one had absolutely nothing to do with the strange powers that were plaguing him and the others.

No, this was just a memory that had decided now was a pretty good time to remind him of its existence. It was nothing that any of the others had to be worried about, so there was really no reason to tell them. They'd probably just end up worrying or something, and he didn't want to make them do that.

Sighing, Cooro pushed himself off of his bed and sat back down over at his desk, although he wasn't even sure why. He still had the blanket draped over himself and his wings out, but he was feeling a bit restless just sitting on the bed. He was still a bit too tired to actually leave the room or try to do anything though.

Looking down at the desk, his homework was still sitting out on the table, only half finished as he'd left it. It probably wasn't too late, since Mother Superior hadn't tried to wake him up for dinner yet, so he had a lot of time to complete it.

Just staring at the numbers that didn't seem to want to go together in any sort of logical rhyme or reason, he slowly shut the book. He could just tell Ms. Brighton that he tried the homework, and didn't get it. Sure, he'd probably only get a fifty for not even really looking at the rest, but that didn't really bother him all too much right now.

Mind split between that terrible memory and worry for his friends, math homework really didn't seem important enough to actually put any effort into.

* * *

Yay, we haven't had Cooro's point of view in a while, and he hasn't had a dream in even longer. But yes, as you saw, not exactly one of the normal dreams. Hooray for more things continuing to unravel. Still can't believe this is chapter 50, this story is so long. I've said it before but I'll say it again, I really hope no one minds the length.

Well, as always thanks for reading and please review.


	54. Chapter 51

Hello readers. Blarg, I've been having a hard time writing lately, so I know I have other stories I'm supposed to update before this one, but right now I'm just going with what will come to me easiest.  
I guess moving completely across the continental United States, no longer having the books to physically flip through in order to immerse myself as well as the person I would rant to for hours about my plans and read the chapters to every single one of my fics for proof-reading now gone will do that to you. Never fear though, still write I shall do. It'll just take a bit for me to adjust to the changes. Hopefully it won't impact the actual quality of my work though.

Well, here's the next chapter, hope you likes.

Chapter 51

Husky was finding it extremely difficult to leave his bed the next morning. For some ungodly reason his brain had decided that it would be a great idea to not get any sleep last night, no matter how much he tried, or how long he laid in his bed staring up at the ceiling. By the time his alarm clock had rung he was still awake, but now excruciatingly tired and wanting nothing more than to just _not_ go to school and sleep for at least a few hours.

What was even worse was that during the night his mind had also decided to run around with a million different worries and ideas, undaunted once his homework was finished. Worries about Cooro and his new therapist, if he was really telling them the truth about everything. It wasn't like Cooro to lie though, but something still seemed a bit wrong with this whole picture that he just couldn't place no matter how hard he tried. He guessed he just had to trust that if something really was wrong, Cooro would tell them about it. No matter how hard that was.

And of course, ideas about those horrid dreams and nightmares, what in the world they could possibly mean. He wasn't able to get any farther than what they'd already found out though, which was for all intents and purposes nothing.

So he was tied, didn't want to move at all and was making himself increasingly more paranoid and scared about everything that was happening, even if really not much seemed to be happening anymore.

The silver boy didn't bother trying to turn off his alarm clock as it continued to go off. Maybe the annoying buzzing would force him to get up and leave the room if he just let it go on for a little bit longer.

He ended up laying there for nearly ten minutes before Keane slowly creaked his door open. Husky didn't need to roll over and look at the older boy to know that he was probably confused beyond all belief as to why he was letting his alarm continue to drone on for so long.

"Myrrha? Your alarm's going off," the redhead said, loud enough to be heard over the buzzing, but just barely. Almost like he was afraid to actually wake Husky up, which was just weird, seeing as that's exactly what he _should_ be doing at the moment. That is, if the silver boy wasn't already up as it was, no matter how barely.

"I know," Husky mumbled, still not making any move to actually turn the blasted machine off, or get up for the day or anything. Keane frowned at the response, by now it pretty obvious that something was definitely off with the other boy. Not that Husky would admit that. He was just tired; he would get over it in a few minutes.

"Then why aren't you turning it off?" he asked. With more effort than he should have needed Husky rolled over so that he could actually look at Keane. When he tried to focus on him though, his right eye wouldn't quite listen, instead causing his vision to be a half blurred, half clear doubled layered that was rather bothering.

"If the noise stops I'll fall asleep," he managed to say, which was definitely true enough. With the way he was now, he might actually end up falling asleep even with the noise, but it was definitely quite a bit harder.

"Didn't get much sleep last night?" the redhead asked, to which Husky just barely managed to shake his head, having closed his eyes once again by this point to avoid the annoying only half clear image.

"None," he slurred. Urg, he had to get over himself and just wake up already. He had school today, and he couldn't not go again, after all of the time he'd already missed. Before he could convince his body to move though Keane had started speaking once again.

"Maybe you should stay home today. It looks like you'll just end up falling asleep in class if you try to go anyway," the redhead suggested. Slowly, Husky managed to actually push himself into a sitting position, despite the wave of dizziness that washed over him immediately afterwards. He didn't go without sleep much, but when he did it didn't usually affect him like this. Barely managing to gather himself again, he shook his head.

"No, I can go, it's fine. Already missed too much as it is…" he insisted, even though he couldn't completely dispel the swirling of his head that was beginning to make him a bit nauseous. Maybe he was a bit more than _just_ sleep deprived…

"Are you sure? You really don't look so good," Keane asked, and once again Husky barely managed to nod. He wasn't sure though, not at all. But that didn't matter, he had to go. Cooro and Nana would be worried if he didn't show up, especially after yesterday. Keane could just tell them that he was sick and couldn't come today though… but that still probably wouldn't stop them from worrying…

And Dylana wasn't here anymore, so he wouldn't have to worry about running into her if he stayed…

Husky had gotten so used to the constant buzzing of his practically forgotten alarm clock that it actually startled him when Keane had walked over and shut it off. The silence almost seemed to be louder than the noise.

"You should stay home, okay?" the older boy said, and despite the fact that it wasn't exactly worded like an order, even in his slightly delirious state Husky could tell that it actually was. Feeling too dazed to try to argue, reluctantly the silver boy simply nodded.

Husky practically collapsed back down to his bed immediately afterwards, not bothering to actually say anything to the older boy. He just needed to get a few hours of sleep so that his head would stop spinning. He could call the others after they got home from school and make sure they knew he was okay.

"Later," Keane said quietly as he went to leave the room.

"Bye," the silver boy practically whispered before he left. Husky wasn't able to acknowledge the sound of his door shutting and Keane walking downstairs before eventually leaving the house. Instead he felt his body very thankfully finally shutting down and letting the young boy quickly fall to sleep.

…

Cooro stood quietly on the front steps of the church as he waited for Husky and Keane to show up so that they could walk to school. It wasn't exactly like him to stand quietly, but he was still feeling a bit muddled from what had happened yesterday. That unpleasant dream wouldn't leave him alone, making him doubt whether or not it was the best idea to keep it from the others.

He couldn't tell them now, after what he'd said yesterday. It would be better to just keep it a secret, just make it everything stayed as stable as it possibly could.

It wasn't good to keep secrets, but he didn't think telling his friend about any of this would help them anyway. They already had no many problems after all; there was absolutely no reason to load them up with his own as well.

He ignored the fact that he was now using the same exact logic that Husky had been just a while ago, and how much he and Nana - well, mostly Nana, he just stood there hoping Husky would be his friend again – had argued with him about how wrong that was. They didn't mind helping him with his problems, and he knew that they would try to help him out if he told them about everything.

But despite all that, he couldn't bring himself to even think about saying anything to them. It'd be fine though, he could handle it on his own.

The black haired boy forced a smile onto his face when he saw the ones he was waiting for come into view just down the street. That smile immediately dropped however when he noticed something.

Husky wasn't there. Cooro almost immediately started down the stairs and towards the older brother, trying to keep as much of the paranoid fear he was feeling off of his face as possible. Keane was really simply an innocent bystander in all of this, since he was just unlucky enough to be Husky's brother. So it would probably be best to keep him as oblivious to anything being wrong as they could.

"Hey Keane! Where's Husky? Is he okay?" Cooro asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion and concern, but managing to keep himself from seeming overly worried. Or at least, he assumed he did, seeing as the redhead didn't do anything but smile slightly and nod at his questions.

"Yeah, he's fine. He just didn't get much sleep last night. I think he's getting sick too, so I told him to stay home," he explained, Cooro nodding in understanding. It was hard to keep a frown from forming on his face though. Staying home from school, even when he was sick, just didn't seem like Husky very much. Sure, he had stayed home during the whole mess with Dylana and having to stay at the church and such, but even then he'd tried to go at least once. It was only after he'd had that panic attack did he agree to not go.

He'd seen Husky stubbornly struggle through school with a cold before, so he wasn't sure if something like that alone would make him stay home. He dearly hoped he was wrong though, and that his friend really was simply tied and sick.

There was also the fact that Dylana wasn't there anymore, if he thought about it. So maybe that was a part of the reason why he didn't feel the need to stay away from home so much. Even before she attacked him, Cooro was pretty sure that he didn't like staying home when she was there. It wasn't really a surprise thinking that they didn't get along.

The first half of their walk to school was mostly silent, both boys apparently too wrapped up in their own thoughts to bother trying to start any sort of conversation. After a while though Keane finally broke the silence, surprising Cooro slightly.

"Hey Cooro…" the redhead started, Cooro quickly turning his head so that he was looking over at him.

"Yeah?" he asked back, not quite able to figure out the tone in Keane's voice. Besides that one time when Husky had stayed after school, he and Keane didn't really hang out alone very much. It wasn't that he didn't think Keane was nice enough to spend time with alone, but it just happened that Husky was always there too. He couldn't help but think of the redhead as 'Husky's brother' above everything else.

"Are we um, friends?" Keane asked, very effectively throwing Cooro for a loop. The black haired boy couldn't help but just stare at him for a moment as the question sunk in, before quickly nodding.

Even if he thought of him as just Keane, 'Husky's brother' most of the time, and when they talked he was usually concerned with making sure he didn't let the most important things going on in his life slip out, didn't mean he wasn't his friend, he guessed.

Thinking about it, he was the only friend he ever had that when he looked at it, was actually just a simple, normal relationship.

The redhead probably didn't even realize just how lucky he really was for that, just being able to be normal.

"Of course we are, why would you ask that?" Cooro asked back happily. They were starting to near the school now, and Keane shrugged slightly.

"I don't know…" he mumbled, before stopping and staring at the other boy. Cooro quickly came to a halt as well, looking back at the other boy in confusion. He liked to pretend that they could keep everything a secret from Keane forever, but he really doubted that would actually be the case. After all, he and Husky lived together, they were beyond lucky that the redhead hadn't seen the markings yet, especially seeing as they weren't in the easiest place to cover. Sure, they were fine with it being winter at the moment, but it would be very hard to explain why Husky was wearing turtlenecks in the winter. They were being delusional if they thought he wouldn't fine them someday.

Of course, even if he just saw the markings, that didn't mean they had to explain everything. As hard as it would be to explain a tattoo, it would be worse if they tried to tell him what was really going on. He could just imagine the poor boy fainting at the sight of his brother with a mermaid tail.

"Sometimes I just feel that there's something going on that you and Myrrha are keeping from me," he said, very effectively reinforcing Cooro's previous thoughts.

The black haired boy managed to keep any of his fears about Keane possibly finding out what was going on off his face as he turned his head in innocent confusion, before quickly smiling once again.

"Really? That's odd; I don't know what we'd be keeping from you," Cooro said, to which Keane reluctantly nodded. Yeah, it was definitely obvious that he suspected something, but the younger boy didn't actually feel particularly bad about keeping secrets from him. It would be better for him in the long run, after all.

The two had reached the school by this point now, Keane quickly going off to the middle school section after saying goodbye. It felt a bit strange for Cooro to go off to class by himself, even though Husky had missed so much school he really should be used to it by now. He guessed that despite everything he really had gotten used to the silver boy being with him so much. Not that it bothered him, in fact he didn't mind it at all.

Even though he had the time to, having actually arrived a bit early for once, he didn't see Nana in the morning. He couldn't tell if it was because he was still nervous about the other day to try to talk to her, or if he'd hadn't wanted her to find out that Husky hadn't come to school today yet and be worried all morning. At least if she just found out at lunch then she would only have to worry for half the day, instead of the whole day like he was.

Eventually though lunch did come and Cooro couldn't help but let out a small sigh when he sat down at the table. Nana wasn't there yet, or else he probably wouldn't have. He just really wasn't feeling like himself today, but he didn't want the others to see that and worry about him. In fact, it was probably a good thing that Husky was absent today because of that.

He did manage to start smiling again once Nana came into view. He was kind of happy to see her after all, it was rather boring being in class all by himself again. Sure, it gave him an excuse to pay attention, but it was still difficult with all of the swirling thoughts going through his head.

"Hey Nana," he said happily before taking another bite of his apple. She quickly nodded in response, glancing over at the empty seat next to him in a bit of confusion afterwards.

"Hi Cooro. Is Husky with the therapist again today?" she asked, sounding rather uncertain. That was probably because Husky wasn't supposed to go to therapy today, and the black haired boy quickly shook his head. That was obviously not the answer that she had been hoping for from the small frown that instantly formed on her face.

"Keane said that he didn't get much sleep last night and woke up sick, so he stayed home," he explained. It was clear that she was just as uncertain about the whole explanation as he had been, and he didn't blame her for that. Even still, he quickly continued, "I'm sure he's fine though, I'll call him after school to make sure everything's okay," he said, and Nana nodded at that, looking a bit less worried, but still not by much.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," she agreed. It wasn't that they didn't trust Husky, but there was always the possibility that he wasn't telling Keane something because he couldn't, if it had to do with dreams or their powers or something. It was still very possible that he was just sick, but there was also a chance that it might be something a lot bigger than that, and they just wanted to make sure that he really was okay.

The two started eating quietly after that, Cooro wondering when one of them would start a conversation. It didn't seem like any of them talked much about anything but the dreams and powers and everything else that was happening to them anymore. Of course, it was rather hard to talk about anything else when that was taking up most of their life and energy worrying about. They couldn't talk to anyone but each other about it either, so it wasn't like they could vent any other way.

It wasn't that it bothered him talking about all of this, they needed to after all. It was just a little strange once he thought about it. He finally had friends, but even though it didn't start this way, sometimes it seemed like they were more just friends by circumstances than anything else.

"Do you really think he's okay?" Nana asked, breaking him out of his thoughts. Cooro didn't need to ask who she was talking about, taking a moment to think her question over before nodding.

"I'm sure if anything major happened he would try to call us or something, or Keane would say something about it. Well, if it didn't have anything to do with the dreams or that stuff, but you know. He's just at his house, so I'm sure he'll be fine," the black haired boy tried to reassure her, as well as himself just a tiny bit. Nana nodded once again, fiddling with a pencil lying on the table as she answered.

"Yeah, I guess so. It just doesn't seem like Husky to stay home because he's sick though. But I guess that's just because I'm so used to him not coming to school for other reasons," she said, and Cooro couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"I know, but I'm sure it'll be fine, Husky's a lot stronger than he looks, even if something else was wrong with him, I'm sure he could last the day," he said. Lunch ended not long after that, and the two children had to go back to their individual classes.

Well, at least trying to reassure Nana that everything was okay actually helped to reassure himself a bit. What he had said was true, after all. Even if it wasn't a cold, Husky would be fine for a few more hours.

If something was majorly wrong, something life threatening, Keane would have been able to see it. Despite the fact that he didn't know the whole story of what was going on at all, Cooro still felt that he could trust the redhead to make sure Husky was okay when he couldn't. It was obvious how much he cared about the younger boy, and he wasn't stupid. He'd be able to tell if something was _really_ wrong.

Husky tried to keep everything to himself, but he wasn't the really the best at hiding things.

Cooro managed to get himself to stop thinking about his friends and focus on his lesson once he got back to class, despite how difficult that actually was. He wished it was winter break, so that he could just forget about school for a little while, but that was still several weeks away.

That'd be okay though, he just had a few more hours before school was out for the day. He could at least last that long.

…

Husky was still asleep when Keane got home from school. Not that the redhead had really expected anything different, with the way he'd been acting this morning. Even still, Keane couldn't help but peak his head into the younger boy's room just to make sure he was all right.

Just as he thought, Myrrha was still out like a light; his normally pale white face a bit pink from what Keane guessed was probably a fever. Once he woke up he'd have to make him take some medicine or something like that. He'd let him sleep for a few more hours first though, since that was what he probably needed most of all at the moment.

Keane was just about to leave when the sound of Myrrha's phone going off startled him. The silver boy didn't even flinch at the noise, surprising Keane slightly. He really was out of it. The redhead stood in the doorway for a moment, unsure about what to do. He should just let it go to the voicemail, he guessed. It wasn't _his_ phone, after all.

It could be important though… It probably wouldn't hurt if he just looked at who was calling, so that he could tell Myrrha once he woke up.

Looking at the screen, he really wasn't surprised at seeing Cooro's name under a little ringing phone. The normally hyperactive boy had been rather quiet during the walk home, probably worried about Myrrha, seeing as he decided to call him almost as soon as he'd gotten home.

Staring at the phone for another second, the boy made a split second decision, practically running out of the room before answering the phone.

"Um, hello?" he said hesitantly, waiting for an answer.

"Hey, uh, is this Husky?" Cooro asked on the other side of the line. He sounded a bit uncertain though, having definitely expected to just hear his younger brother, and definitely not recognizing his voice as such.

"No, it's Keane. Myrrha's still asleep, I just heard his phone ringing," the redhead explained. "Do you need me to tell him anything? I can get it to him once he wakes up," he added. Yeah, that was the only reason he'd answered the silver boy's phone. So that he could take a message for Myrrha, since he was so sick and out of it.

He _did_ trust Myrrha. What could they really be keeping from him, after all? Well, there was that thing with that Senri guy, but he knew about that now. And if there was anything else, he could wait for the younger boy to tell him about it. He would eventually, right? There wasn't any reason for him to try to sneak around and try to find out what was going in his life.

"No, that's fine, thanks though Keane. Could you just tell him that I called once he wakes up?" the black haired boy asked. Keane couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that he didn't tell him anything.

"Sure, I guess I'll talk to you later than," he said reluctantly. On the other end of the line he heard Cooro say thanks and goodbye, before saying bye himself. Staring down at the phone, Keane sighed before sneaking back into Myrrha's room and putting the cell back down on the desk by his bed.

Quietly leaving the room, the redhead couldn't help but frown when he got back to his room, collapsing on his bed. No one seemed to acting much like themselves today. Myrrha was all sick and actually listened to him when he told him to stay home when he told him to, and Cooro had been acting strangely subdued.

Maybe he should just leave them all alone for now. After all, if they didn't want to tell him, then it wasn't any of his business. Myrrha was being a bit less introverted when it came to him after all, so that was a good thing, right? He was probably looking way too far into all of this anyway; Cooro had said that he had no idea what they could possibly even be keeping from him this morning.

As much as he tried to convince himself to just let it all go, for some reason he just couldn't. Something wasn't right, and he was going to figure out just what that was. Eventually…

* * *

And yay I actually managed to write a chapter. More random Keane… sorry about that, for some reason when I'm stuck, he's just really, really easy to write. Him and Husky both, but Husky was all sick and sleepy this chapter.  
Well, hopefully I'll get back into the groove for all of my stories soon and begin updating faster again. As always, thanks for reading the chapter, and please review.


	55. Chapter 52

Hello there readers. Look, I've gotten back into updating at a semi-normal pace again. I guess this is a perfect time to announce that I'll be doing NaNoWriMo this year and won't be able to update throughout all of November. This'll be the first time I've ever tried before, so hopefully it won't be a complete fail. Haha, sorry about the upcoming lack of updates though, but I'll try to update maybe once more after this before then, but sadly I can't promise anything.  
Anyway, let's get on with the chapter now, shall we?

Chapter 52

Husky laid still in his bed for a few moments, eyes closed as he debated on whether or not he wanted to get up quite yet. He still felt pretty awful to tell the truth - although marginally less speed deprived when compared to this morning - so it was incredibly tempting to just roll over and fall right back to sleep.

Of course, he'd probably been sleeping for a while now and Keane was most likely already back from school. He should also try to call Cooro or something and let the others know that he was okay. It was just very obvious that he was sick now. There was a dull ache throughout his body, and his head felt like it was completely full of wet cotton as well as that strange, hot-but-cold feeling all over that tended to come with fevers.

Before Husky was able to make up his mind on what exactly he wanted to do he heard the sound of his door creaking open just slightly. Having to force himself a bit more than he probably should have, he managed to open his eyes and sit up. Keane was peeking into his room, a hint of relief on his face at the sight of the younger boy now awake.

"Hey, I was just checking to see if you were up yet. You okay?" the redhead asked softly. It definitely wasn't a tone that he was used to Keane using with him, but Husky simply ignored it before nodding slightly. Instead he just began rubbing at his eyes in an attempt to get them to focus a bit better as he answered.

"I'm sick," the silver boy said plainly. He was still rubbing his eyes and not looking up at Keane, so he didn't end up noticing the slightly amused look that passed over the older boy's face.

"Right, I could kind of tell. Want me to get you some cold medicine?" Keane asked, the silver boy nodding once again, not having to think it over at all. He didn't like taking medicine, but it was clear he needed it and something just told him that Keane wasn't about to take a plain no as an answer.

"Yeah, thanks," Husky said, having stopped rubbing at his eyes now, although his vision was only marginally better than before. The silver boy leaned his back against the wall before looking over at the redhead just in time to see him nodding.

"No problem, want anything else while I'm down there? Something to eat maybe?" Husky thought the question over for a moment. He wasn't really all that hungry, but he probably needed to eat seeing as he hadn't yet at all today. He just found himself hoping that whatever he ate wouldn't end up upsetting his stomach any. He didn't need to be having a stomach bug on top of all of this, that was for sure.

"Sure, whatever's fine," he said, not quite able to think of anything specific he really wanted to eat. Once Keane had left the room the silver boy pulled his blanket up around him, feeling a chill run though his body. Urg, why did he have to get sick now? He'd already missed so much school this year; he was surprised that they hadn't tried to contact his father yet.

Thinking about it, they probably actually have tried to already. They just couldn't get a hold of him. He definitely wouldn't be surprised if he ended up finding out that had been the case.

It wasn't long before Keane came back into the room, placing a cup of apple juice and a plate of grapes, crackers and two pills down on the table next to his bed.

"Are you sure you're gonna be alright?" the redhead asked. Husky almost immediately nodded, it was just a stupid flu after all. Or fever. Or a bad cold or something. Point was he'd had worse before and would most likely definitely have worse in the future as well. The worry in the older boy's eyes didn't immediately vanish, but he seemed to decide to just let the topic drop for now.

"Cooro called earlier, I think he was worried since you weren't in school today," Keane said after a moment. Husky quickly looked up at him, although he wasn't entirely surprised. He would probably act the same way if one of the others hadn't come to school without any warning.

"Did you tell him I was sick?" he asked, the redhead nodding.

"I told him this morning that you weren't feeling well, and when he called I said that you were still asleep. It was about an hour ago, so I guess just call him back whenever you feel like it," he explained. Husky glanced at the clock hanging on his wall. An hour ago would have been right around the time when school let out and Cooro would have gotten home.

Yep, he was definitely worried that something was wrong. He hadn't waited long to call him at all.

"Thanks," the silver boy said absently, nodding slightly. "I'll call him in a bit. Did he say any reason why he was calling?" he asked, doubting it but figuring it couldn't hurt to ask. Just as he thought though, Keane started shaking his head.

"No, he just asked if I could tell you he called when you woke up," the redhead explained. Keane seemed to hesitate for a moment, looking the younger boy over a bit before finally turning back towards the door. "I'll be in my room if you need anything else, okay? Hope you feel better," he said after a few seconds.

"Okay, thanks again," Husky said, turning towards the food that Keane had brought and taking a sip of the juice. The hesitance in the older boy worried him slightly, but he quickly pushed it away. He probably just wasn't used to seeing him sick like this. He wasn't acting like he had when it was that whole debacle with Senri, so it shouldn't be that bad.

There wasn't any reason for him to think that anything else was up, after all. And as long as they made sure he never saw any of the markings, there wouldn't ever be any reason for him to. Since they all had these powers now, hopefully nothing _else_ crazy life changing and just frankly impossible seeming would happen to them.

Popping a few of the grapes in his mouth, the silver boy quickly took the pills afterwards. Ignoring the crackers for now, he reached over and grabbed his phone. There was no reason to make Cooro worry for any longer than necessary, after all.

He didn't have to listen to the phone's ringing for very long, Cooro's ever cheerful voice picking up after only a few rings. He could imagine the black haired boy making small excuses to keep himself close to the phone over the past hour as he waited for him to call back.

"Hello, how may I help you?" he asked happily. For a second Husky couldn't help but think it would be so much easier if the black haired boy had his own phone, so that they wouldn't have to call the church's number all of the time. Of course, Cooro didn't exactly have the money for a cell phone, so that was sadly out of the question.

"Hey Cooro, it's Husky," he said, practically able to feel the relief radiating off of the other boy through the phone.

"Husky! How are you? Keane said that you got sick, are you okay?" Cooro asked rapidly. The silver boy nodded instinctively as he started to answer.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just caught a stupid cold or flu or something, that's all. I might end up being out for a few days though, which isn't exactly good since I've already missed so much school to begin with. You weren't worried, were you?" Husky asked. He could already tell that he had been, but he figured it didn't hurt to ask.

"Well, Keane had said that you were sick, so I wasn't too worried. That's too bad though, hopefully you'll get better soon. You don't think that the school will make you retake the year or something if you miss too much, do you?" Cooro asked. Husky thought for a moment, frowning slightly as he did. He really hoped something like that wouldn't happen. If he just had to end up staying after school to make up the time or going to classes during the summer then he could deal with that, but he really didn't want to have to retake a whole year of stuff he already thought was boring to begin with.

"I hope not, but there's nothing I can do about it if they do. Maybe I'll be able to go tomorrow if I'm feeling better," he said. On the other end of the line Cooro nodded, although he really didn't think that sounded like a good idea if Husky really had the flu or something like that. He'd seen the silver boy push himself too hard before, and although this wasn't really the same exact situation, he still didn't want anything bad to end up happening to him simply because he was being stubborn.

"Just make sure you don't push yourself too hard if you're still sick, okay?" Cooro asked, Husky instantly agreeing. He didn't want to end up passing out in the middle of class any more than Cooro wanted him to, so he wasn't going to go do anything crazy. Plus, if that happened then they would have to call his father to take him home and it'd just be a huge mess he did not want to get into at all.

"I won't, don't worry about it," he tried to reassure the older boy. "So, did anything happen today?" he asked after a moment. He was starting to feel a bit less exhausted, so even though his head wasn't completely clear, he could begin to think slightly better now. Cooro was quiet for a moment before shrugging at the question.

"Not really, school was pretty much the same as always. Mostly I was just worried about how you were doing," the black haired boy said. Husky couldn't help but smirk slightly as he leaned his chin down on his knees.

"I thought you said you weren't worried about me?" he asked. Cooro was quiet for a moment before chuckling slightly, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"I guess maybe I was kind of worried. Keane said you were sick, but I guess I was just scared that you might have only said that to him because it was something that you couldn't actually explain, you know?" he said. Husky's small smirk dropped and he nodded. Yeah, he could definitely understand how he might be worried about something like that.

"Right, that makes sense. Thankfully it wasn't anything like that, or I'd try to tell you all as fast as possible," he said.

"Yeah, that's good," Cooro said on the other end of the line. Both boys were quiet for a moment, not entirely sure what to say next.

Cooro wondered if he should tell him about what Keane had said on the way home today, about feeling that there was just something they were keeping from him. It could be really bad if the redhead continued to feel that way and decided to look into it by himself. Sure, it was doubtful that he would be able to find out everything, but most anything he could find out would still be considered too much in his opinion.

Of course, how was Husky supposed to make him any less suspicious even if he knew that he was suspecting sometime was amiss? If he went to him and said that everything was perfectly normal and he didn't need to worry about it, it would probably just make things all the worse.

Before the black haired boy was able to figure out exactly how to word his thoughts however Husky started speaking once again.

"So, nothing's really changed at all with you? No new dreams or anything?" he asked, breaking the small silence.

"Nope, nothing so far, which is good I guess. I almost wish there was something new though, so that it could help us figure out what's going on, I'm kind of stuck now with just everything we already know," Cooro said. Husky found himself nodding in agreement. Maybe it was just the fever talking, but it would be helpful if they had something to send them in a direction. Of course, as long as that something wasn't anymore horrid dreams or nearly dying again. If that was the case, then he could definitely go without a direction.

"Yeah, but I'd just like a straight answer already, I'm tired of mysteries," he said, mumbling the last part slightly. That was definitely true though, he'd had enough of mysteries. He just wanted to know what was going on so that he didn't have to worry about it so much anymore. That was probably what had gotten him so freaking sick in the first place.

"We'll figure it out eventually," Cooro said, as if it was really just that simple. Husky wasn't really in the mood to start arguing about how it was very possible that they wouldn't figure it out, that they would just have these strange powers and terrible dreams that didn't make sense for the rest of their lives, if it didn't end up driving them all insane first.

Instead, he simply nodded, softly agreeing. It was just easier that way.

"I guess I'll see you later then. Don't freak out if I'm not in school tomorrow though, this isn't exactly the best feeling in the world," Husky said after a moment. Cooro chuckled a tiny bit before nodding, adjusting his grip on the old phone as he did.

"Don't worry, I won't," he said, "Hope you feel better soon though," the older boy added on.

"Thanks, I'll try," Husky said before quickly saying goodbye and hanging up after Cooro had done the same. Leaning back against the wall, the silver boy closed his eyes for a moment, just trying to get the clogged feeling in his head to go away for a bit. The pills weren't working yet, but he'd only taken them about ten minutes ago if that, so that didn't surprise him.

So Cooro wanted a lead, something to point them in the right direction for what all of this stuff was really about. That would definitely be nice, but he truly doubted something like that would ever just fall into their laps.

What were they supposed to do then? This wasn't like in the books or movies, there wasn't going to be some mysterious guy with all the answers coming to explain what it all meant and whisk them away on some great adventure. And even if there was, there was no way Husky was going to go with him. He didn't want adventure, and that guy had already left them on their own in all of this for way too long anyway.

He just wanted his life to go back to some sort of thing he could call normal.

Laying back down, Husky decided to just try to stop thinking about it for now. Despite all of the sleep he'd gotten earlier, he was still tired, and he just wasn't in any condition to try to be figuring this stuff out now. It'd probably only end up giving him nightmares.

…

The next morning Cooro wasn't surprised to see only Keane walking up the street. Sure, Husky had said that he'd try to make it, but he really hadn't sounded like he was feeling too good when they talked yesterday. At least it was Friday, so he would have the weekend to try to get better and he wouldn't have to miss anymore school.

"Good morning," the black haired boy said happily, Keane nodding back. "Husky still sick?" he asked.

"Yeah, I didn't even try to wake him up this morning. He'll probably be mad at me for that, but he can't go if he's sick like this anyway," Keane explained. Cooro couldn't help but agree, although Husky would probably only be upset for a few minutes at most before calming down.

"I'm sure he'll understand, and at least it's Friday so he can rest during the weekend now," Cooro said. Keane nodded, messing with the straps of his book bag as he answered.

"Yeah, and winter break's coming up in a few weeks too, so that'll be great when it finally gets here," he said. Cooro had almost forgotten about that, winter break was coming up soon, thankfully. A little bit over three weeks or so, he was pretty sure. Keane didn't realize just how much they needed that break, it was nearly impossible for him to focus on school lately. If he could just take some time to regroup his thoughts it would hopefully be a bit easier.

"Yep, that'll be nice," was all he ended up saying though, since he couldn't explain the reasons why he wanted it to come so badly. They were practically inside of the school now anyway, and soon Keane was leaving to go off to his own classes anyway.

Cooro found his mind wandering to how strange it was that he'd never really even seen the redhead much before he met Husky. They went to the same school and walked basically the same exact way to get there as each other. Sure, he was two years ahead of them, but that meant that just two years ago he would have been in the elementary school section along with them as well. But before Husky came they'd barely even seen each other in the hallway, and never said two words to each other. The same with Nana, and they were in the same grade.

Thinking about it, he wasn't even sure if he and Keane or he and Nana or any of them really had anything in common with each other. Well, there was the fact that he and Nana and Senri and Husky had these powers and dreams. With Keane they were connected because they were both close to Husky, one being his brother and the other being Cooro's closest friend.

That wasn't like their actual interests though. It was just the circumstances they were in. It was just like he'd been thinking the other day. He liked his friends, he really did, but it was like they were only friends because of the situation. It was easy and it made sense to hang out together, so they did. They were friends of circumstances.

Cooro felt his shoulder collide into someone roughly, having fallen into his own mind quite a bit and forgetting that he was walking through a rather crowded hallway. Instantly he started turning towards the person to apologize, quickly realizing it was a teacher as he did. Once he actually saw who it was though, he felt those words dry up in his throat.

"Ah, Cooro, how are you doing this morning?" Mr. Greena asked, smiling down at the young boy. Cooro found himself staring down at his feet as he went to answer.

"Good. Sorry for running into you, I wasn't watching where I was going," he mumbled, not looking up at the tall man as he spoke. Mr. Greena shook his head; quickly waving away the apology like it was nothing.

"That's fine; it's always so crowded in these hallways you run into people even when you are paying attention. I never get to see you anymore anyway, so it's nice. You should stop by my office sometime, my doors are open most of the time," the older man offered. Cooro just nodded slightly, not saying anything as he waited for an excuse to leave.

"Well, I better head there now, and you need to get ready for class. I'll see you around Cooro," Mr. Greena said. Once again the black haired boy barely managed to make himself nod, immediately walking away towards his locker afterwards. He was just able to see out of the corner of his eye that the tall man had waved at him as he started away, but didn't stop to wave back or anything.

It wasn't like him to be rude, but he managed to justify it in his head this one time.

At least Husky wasn't here. After what had happened on Wednesday the silver boy would probably be extremely confused and suspicious if he just saw that. Like he said before, he really did like his friends a lot, but it would just be better if he didn't have to explain any of that to them. It would just make them worry more, and since he liked them, he didn't want to put them through that.

Reaching his locker, he absently started putting his lunch and other things he wouldn't need until later inside as he continued to think. Husky was supposed to have his second session of therapy today, wasn't he? Cooro could imagine that he probably wasn't too upset about missing it.

Shutting his locker the black haired boy tried to push that unexpected meeting to the back of his mind as he started towards his classroom. He barely ever saw Mr. Fly, even just passing by in the hallways, so there wasn't anything he needed to worry about right now. Sure Husky would be seeing him a lot more, but it would be fine. He probably didn't even know that they were friends to begin with, or else he would have brought it up just now.

Slumping down into his desk, Cooro almost immediately started doodling nonsense on the side of his paper.

Senri, looking more bear than actual human fighting another man the same as he was. Nana, dressed up in an all-black outfit with her bat ears and wings out – which, thinking about it, Cooro hadn't actually seen in real life yet – struggling to hold an axe that was obviously too big and heavy for her to fly with. Husky, holding a staff and looking so serious, not like he usually was, but focused and just _different. _

Well, there went any chances of him actually being able to concentrate during class today. As much as he wanted to, his mind had fallen into another world.

* * *

I'm sorry for the shortish chapter. I wanted it to be longer, but I also wanted to end it here, and ending it here won because it was easier. Like I said, sorry, especially since the next update probably won't be for a while.

I do hope you all liked the chapter though. I promise things will definitely start to pick up again soon. As always though, thanks for reading, and please review.


	56. Chapter 53

I'm back! And I did manage to win NaNoWriMo, for anyone interested. I actually reached word count five days early, but I needed to take a tiny bit of a writing break to clear my mind and get back into fanfiction mode. I did find that fanfiction is definitely a comfort zone for me, one that I'm not going to ever fully leave, I don't think. I just feel a lot more comfortable here, which is good for all of you. Not to say I don't like writing me own stories, but you know. This is fun.

Well yes, I just have to thank you all for waiting so patiently, and here's the new chapter.

Chapter 53

Cooro had told Nana that he talked to Husky the day before during lunch, explaining that the younger boy really was just sick and that there wasn't really anything to be worried about. The relief on her face had been nearly immediate, although the fact that he was sick, and apparently still too sick to come to school definitely wasn't a good thing either.

When things could always be so much worse though, it was nice to know that it was nothing permanent. Much rather a cold than some other possibility neither of them really wanted to think about all that much.

The black haired boy was walking back home now. He'd realized that Keane had been waiting for him to get out, despite the fact that Husky wasn't actually with him today. He'd done the same thing yesterday as well, but Cooro hadn't given it any thought. It was a… he guessed it was a really nice realization, despite the hint of guilt it left inside of him. Keane was a good friend, and leaving him in the dark about everything was for the best. He'd thank them if he knew why they were doing this.

"Cooro?" the redhead asked, knocking him out of his thoughts. They were stopped in front of the church now. He hadn't even realized they'd reached it already.

"Yeah?" he asked back cheerfully, plastering that ever constant smile back on his face. Keane just stared at him for a moment, looking slightly confused before speaking again.

"I said I'll see you on Monday," he apparently had to repeat, only then making Cooro realize that he'd even missed him saying something in the first place. Cooro laughed a bit and nodded quickly.

"Right, I'll see you then!" he told the older boy. Keane didn't immediately turn to walk away though, still watching him, almost as if he was a puzzle that wouldn't go together right.

"You and Myrrha are always _doing_ that…" he mumbled, causing Cooro to cock his head to the side in innocent confusion.

"Always doing what?" he asked, not entirely sure what the red head was talking about. He hadn't been doing anything just now from what he could remember, but Keane just started to shake his head, like he was trying to take back the previous sentence.

"Nothing, never mind. See you later," he backpedaled, starting to turn away and lifting one hand in a half-hearted wave goodbye. Cooro just nodded slightly, not entirely sure what had just happened, but it wasn't like he could force Keane to explain. He wouldn't want to do something like that anyway, it would be mean. He doubted whatever it was that had bothered him was that much of a problem anyway.

"Okay, bye! Tell Husky I said I hope he gets better soon," the black haired boy said happily, starting around to the back of the church as he did. Keane nodded, saying he would pass on the message before turning fully around and continuing on with the rest of the way to his house.

It was really starting to get cold now, the months having turned over to December, and Keane bunched up his coat when the wind began blowing a bit harder than it had been before.

The redhead felt his mind return to what he'd been just told Cooro a few moments ago, not entirely sure what he'd even meant. Cooro and Myrrha always… they did that thing. That odd little thing where they were all spacey and then pretended that nothing had happened and it was weird. It was like they were always thinking about something, but he had no idea what that something could be.

Keane quickly started shaking his head, trying to distract himself. Whatever it was, it was none of his business. If they wanted to tell him, they would.

The redhead started thinking about what had happened earlier today in attempt to change the subject in his mind. Nothing much of any real note, expect for the fact that today was his second day with that councilor guy. It was weird; having to talk to some guy he didn't even know about his 'problems'. He didn't think he really had any problems, but it was better to just go along with this so that it would end sooner.

The therapist had asked him about why Myrrha hadn't come to talk to him today, so he guessed the younger boy was supposed to have his meetings before he did. Keane had told the man that he was sick at home, but that he should be better by Monday. Mr. Greena had simply nodded at that, saying that he hopes that his brother feels better soon before changing the subject once again.

Keane knew their therapy sessions were supposed to be about everything that had happened, what with his mom and Myrrha and everything, but they hadn't really talked about it much yet. Mostly just school and how he was currently feeling and things like that.

Reaching his house, he started up the stairs to his room without bothering to go get something to eat first or anything. He wasn't really that hungry at the moment. Stopping in front of Myrrha's door, he hesitated for a second before knocking softly and waiting for the younger boy to answer.

"Come in," a muffled voice called from inside of the room, and Keane slowly opened the door and peaked inside before walking in completely.

The silver haired boy was sitting on his bed, a blanket pulled up around his form, hiding almost his entire body from view. He seemed pretty tired, a hand sticking out from the blue folds of fabric to cover a yawn. Keane remembered Cooro mumbling once about how Myrrha always wrapped himself up in blankets when something was wrong with him, but he didn't seem to be stressed out or having a panic attack or anything of the like right now.

"Hey, how was your day?" the redhead asked, just in an attempt to sound casual and out of a loss for ideas of what else to do, waiting for Myrrha to finish yawning before starting to speak.

"Fine, I mostly just slept. You just get back from school?" he asked, and Keane nodded, running a hand up and down his book bag strap.

"Yeah," he answered. Keane stayed quiet for a moment, just watching the younger boy as he tried to figure out if there was anything else to say. Myrrha just squirmed slightly, shifting the blanket farther up his body as it began to fall down again. "Want me to get you some medicine?" he asked after a moment. The silver haired boy was silent, apparently thinking the question over before shaking his head.

"No, it's fine. I'll just get it myself, thanks," he insisted, pushing himself off of the bed. He didn't let go of the blanket though, keeping it held tight up around his neck. Keane frowned slightly, watching the younger boy walk past him. Running to his room, he dropped his book bag down quickly inside, not bothering to shut the door before starting off after him again.

"You cold? I could turn up the heat or something," he asked, walking down the stairs. Myrrha shrugged slightly as he continued towards the kitchen.

"Um, you can if you want to, it's fine," he mumbled. Keane nodded, watching the silver boy a bit. It looked almost like he was wearing a large blue cloak or something; the only thing he could really see was his bare feet when they poked out of the blanket as he walked. The redhead stopped at the thermostat in order to turn the heat up just slightly. It was a bit cold in here too, the weather from inside seeping in ever so slightly, so he wouldn't mind.

When he reached the kitchen, Myrrha was struggling to open the pill bottle while keeping the blanket from falling from his shoulders.

"Need some help?" he asked, the younger boy instantly shaking his head, causing the blanket to slip a bit more and his irritation to grow just that much more.

"I said I got it," he grumbled, the bottle finally opening and Myrrha shaking a couple of the pills into the palm of his hand. Settling the pill bottle down, he pulled the blanket up again before turning to pore himself a drink so that he could actually swallow the pills.

"Are you sure you don't -" Keane started to ask, not able to get his whole question out before Myrrha interrupted him.

"I'm _fine._ Why won't you leave me alone already?" he asked, the irritation in his voice pretty evident, even under the raspy-ness that the cold added to his already strange tone. Keane tried to keep himself from shrinking back or getting annoyed with the question.

"I'm just trying to help," he grumbled, turning to look out the window towards the backyard almost completely as an excuse to keep from looking at Myrrha. The younger boy didn't say anything for a few seconds, barely able to keep himself from spilling the drink. Only once the cap was back on the bottle and it was safe did he actually start to speak.

"I don't need any help, okay? I'm sick, not helpless," Myrrha insisted, and Keane just nodded slightly, looking away from the window but not bothering to actually look at him. The silver boy was always like this. He wasn't being mean; he was just being himself, really. It shouldn't bother him.

"Okay, I'll just see you later then," the redhead mumbled, turning out of the kitchen without another word and leaving Husky alone once again. The younger boy just stared at the empty doorway for a moment, before sighing and shaking his head. Keane was being weird again; he should be used to this by now. Keane was just weird.

Quickly, he managed to swallow the two pills, coughing slightly afterwards when some of the water got caught up in his throat. The tiny surge of panic that ran through him in that moment was quickly pushed down as he started to breathe again. He couldn't drown anymore, it was impossible for him now. There wasn't any need to panic.

Pulling his blanket up a bit more, Husky quickly put the bottle away before starting back up to his room. He hadn't been awake for very long before Keane had come home, so he really hadn't been doing much of anything.

It was annoying that he missed school again. He wasn't feeling nearly as bad today as he had been yesterday, so it might have been possible for him to go if Keane (he guessed it had to have been Keane, there wasn't anyone else to do it, after all) hadn't turned off his alarm before it could go off and wake him up. Sure, his head was still feeling all muffled, and his throat was feeling as scratchy today as well now, but it wasn't that bad.

Sitting on his bed now, Husky wasn't entirely sure what to do. He didn't have any homework, since he hadn't gone to school again, and he wasn't sure if he should try to call Nana or Cooro, they might not even be home yet, and they probably didn't want him bothering them every minute of every day. Today was one of Keane's weird days (which increasingly seemed like a weird day would be every day with the redhead now) and he had just kind of told him to leave him alone. Plus, there was the whole thing where he would probably get the older boy sick if they stuck around each other too much.

In turn, Husky was bored, which was odd and didn't sit right with him in the least. With what his life had become, he shouldn't be capable of being bored anymore.

He was though, despite all of that. Flopping down with a sigh, he just stared up at the ceiling, waiting for the cold medicine to start to take affect so that he could think without that smog clouding his thoughts.

He ended up falling back to sleep, only waking up when a knock at his door sounded and Keane's voice came in saying something about dinner. Husky called back an okay, pushing himself up as he heard the redhead's footsteps going down the stairs, annoyed with himself knowing that there was no way he'd be able to sleep tonight now.

Neither boy spoke much while they were eating, Husky starting to wonder slightly if he'd ended up hurting his feelings or something like that. He hadn't said anything that bad, just to leave him alone and that he could do things himself. Whatever this was, it's Keane's fault for being all sensitive or whatever.

After he was finished eating Husky retreated back up to his room, saying a quick goodbye to Keane as he did.

It was barely five minutes after he got into his room that Husky heard his cell phone go off, startling him quite a bit. Looking at the screen, he saw the church's number flashing and quickly answered it without a moment's hesitation.

"Hello?" he asked, figuring that the only person from the church who would ever be calling him was Cooro, and was instantly proven right when the other boy's voice started to come out cheerfully from the other side of the line.

"Hey Husky, I just wanted to see how you were doing today and stuff. I was kind of bored," Cooro said, and Husky nodded, a little bit glad that he wasn't the only one who was feeling like that. It made the fact that he was seem slightly less disturbing.

"Same here. I'm fine, better than I was yesterday, at least," he told him. The two ended up talking about what felt like amounted to nothing for a while. What he missed in school, how long did he think before he was better again, that so far nothing was changing with the animas, so they were at a dead end.

"I'm bored," Husky mumbled after a lull in the conversation. In the church's small kitchen, Cooro nodded in agreement. "It's weird, I don't feel like I'm allowed to be bored anymore, but I am," he continued.

"You're allowed to be bored Husky. I mean, it'd be really bad if you were in a constant state of panic all the time, you know?" Cooro said, and the silver boy definitely couldn't argue with that logic. He hated being in states of panic for just small amounts of time.

They didn't end up talking for much longer. Senri would be moving in sometime around the middle of the week next week, so they would get to see him again then. Husky wondered slightly if he should bring up Keane, but decided against it. After a few more minutes, the two ended up saying goodbye before hanging up. Husky wished slightly that he wasn't sick, so that he could have possibly made plans to actually leave the house and see Cooro and Nana during the weekend, but he was, so he couldn't.

The silver haired boy ended up being right thinking that he wouldn't be able to sleep that night because of all the naps he'd taken during the day. It was well past midnight now, and he could start to feel the effects of the medicine he'd taken with his dinner beginning to wear off.

Walking downstairs, Husky still had the blue blanket that Cooro had lent (given?) him wrapped around his shoulders. He guessed carrying a blanket around with him everywhere he went was childish and just kind of silly, but he was sick, so he had that as an excuse. When he tried to get himself the medicine though, this time he allowed himself to drape the blanket over a chair so that he didn't risk spilling everything.

He was starting back to his room, out of the kitchen and into the dark next room when something was caught in the corner of his eye, stealing his attention and causing him to turn around and look out the back room window. An almost irritating sense of de-ja-vu struck him at the sight of the redhead, sitting out on the now old porch swing in the backyard.

This had happened before… When had this happened before? Slowly the memory started to come back to him, Husky frowning as he struggled to see Keane clearly in the dark.

It'd been, what? Two years ago now? Yeah, that seemed about right. Back when his mother had still been alive and he had to visit here on weekends and such. He couldn't remember why he'd been downstairs at the time, but he remembered seeing Keane outside on the swing, and waiting for the older boy to come inside. And then… something, he must have fallen asleep. Whether or not they had ended up talking about it later was lost in the current foggy state of his mind.

Walking over to the back door, the silver boy ignored the fact that he wasn't wearing any shoes and stepped outside, tightening his grip on the blanket due to the cold. What in the world was Keane doing out here on a night like this? It was freezing.

Husky barely ever went in the backyard; he didn't see what the use for it was. It was just a large patch of grass with a few trees and bushes and the swing that Keane was on, so there wasn't really anything there to entice him. Because of this though, he found himself tripping over some path markers he never noticed before, alerting the older boy to his presence.

"Myrrha?" Keane asked, having immediately jumped up from his seat when he'd seen the movement out of the corner of his eye, only to relax slightly in realizing that it was just the younger boy. Even still, he quickly started over to where Husky was shivering, the annoyance in the skinny boy's form, even under a blanket clear.

"What are you doing out here? It's cold and you're already sick, go back inside," Keane said, the confusion in his voice obvious. Myrrha just rolled his eyes though before speaking.

"I c-came out to see what you were doing. Why are you being so w-weird today?" Husky asked, irritated as the say the chilly night caused him to stutter slightly. The redhead didn't seem to be as bothered by the cold, but he was wearing a coat over his pajamas, as well as shoes, neither of which Husky had.

"I… huh?" was all Keane managed to say at first though. He seemed to recover a bit after that though, stuffing his hands into his pocket, although Husky wasn't sure if it was due to the cold, or embarrassment.

"It's nothing, go back inside, you'll catch your death out here," Keane said, but the silver boy didn't move from his spot.

"I'm fine. Geeze, you sound like a mom or something," Husky mumbled, even though it was really cold and his bare feet were starting to grow numb in the freezing dew covered grass. Before Keane could start arguing with him again, the younger boy started speaking again. "I'll go inside if you come with me," he said. It would be a lot more comfortable talking about this inside anyway.

The redhead seemed to hesitate for a moment before sighing and nodding. Husky was just barely able to see his breath in the light shining out from the kitchen window that he'd forgotten to turn off.

"Okay, just come on, you," Keane said, taking one hand out of his pocket and starting to lead Husky back towards the house by his wrist. Husky almost pulled away, about to insist that he could walk the few feet back perfectly fine all by himself, but reluctantly decided to just let the older boy do what he want. He didn't particularly enjoy being touched, but if they didn't fight then Keane would probably be more likely to tell him what was going on.

Once they were inside though Husky immediately broke away, going to sit in the dim living room as he tried to rub some heat back into his feet. Keane came into the room a few seconds afterwards, still wearing his coat and shoes, squinting at the younger boy in the darkness.

"So, what were you doing out there anyway?" Husky asked, in a tone like he was just asking about the weather or how school had been today. His eyes were starting to adjust to the lack of light, so it was getting easier to see Keane's expression, which had turned to a frown as he turned slightly away from the boy on the couch.

"I just like it out there, it's nothing," he mumbled. Husky stopped messing with his feet, now just pulling his legs up to his chest and covering his body up with the blanket. He was still cold, but it wasn't anywhere as bad as it had been when he was outside.

"In the middle of the night in the freezing cold? That kind of sounds like something to me," he said, not about to let Keane just push this away as nothing. Probably what had happened all those years ago too, thinking about it. He didn't know what he should even really care, but Keane had pushed into his business with finding Senri, so it was only fair if he pushed into his insisting he talked about why he was being a total weirdo and going outside in the middle of the night.

Still. Even after all this time. Something was still wrong.

"I have a coat and shoes on; it's not that cold when you're actually dressed. And it's quiet at night, I just couldn't sleep," Keane said.

"You've been acting weird all day," Husky insisted. It was true; he had been, at least since after he'd gotten home from school. He couldn't speak for anything before that though.

"No I haven't," Keane said, starting to turn away from the younger boy and heading up the stairs to where both their rooms were. Husky instantly sprang up to head after him, still not remembering to turn off the light in the kitchen. It wasn't like that mattered anyway, though.

"Yes, you have," he said, following him up the stairs. "Keane, talk to me," the silver boy demanded, although Keane didn't stop walking as he answered him.

"I thought you wanted me to leave you alone," he said simply, causing Husky to groan slightly in annoyance. Really now? There's no way that's what's been bothering him all day, was it? He'd been acting off even before that. All snuffy and clingy and stuff.

"Seriously? That's what this is about?" he asked. Both boys had reached the top of the stairs now, and Keane actually turned around to look at him now.

"Huh?" he asked, seeming genuinely confused about what Husky was talking about.

"This. You know, you acting all weird and moping around outside and stuff. This is just because I told you to leave me alone?" he asked, watching as Keane frowned and started shaking his head.

"That's not it, and I'm not moping either. I'm just… I don't know," he stumbled, not seeming to be able to find the right words. Husky wasn't entire sure what he was supposed to do. It's not like this was something serious, right? He was just acting weird because Keane was simply weird.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, watching as the redhead shoved his hands in his pockets again.

"I'm just confused, okay? You and Cooro and all your stupid secrets, it's confusing! And I don't think you're ever gonna tell me what's going on either," he said, surprising Husky. So… Keane really did know something was going on. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. They couldn't let him know what was happening. He wasn't even supposed to know there was anything happening in the first place. Why was he so bad at keeping secrets?

"I… I don't... What are you talking about? There aren't any secrets, you're paranoid!" he said at last, figuring the best plan of action right now would to be to just deny everything. Keane seemed annoyed by the accusation for a few seconds, before sighing and actually nodding in agreement, once again shocking Husky. What the? Why would he agree to something like that?

"Yeah, right. I'm just paranoid," he grumbled, the sarcasm practically dripping from his voice. Husky just stood there for a moment, not entirely sure what to do at all. Keane obviously didn't believe him, but it would be bad if he tried to snoop around and figure out what was really happening. Before he was able to try to convince the other boy that he was wrong though, Keane started speaking again.

"Just go to bed Myrrha, it's late and you're sick," he said, turning around and starting down the hall to his own room without letting the silver boy have any chance to speak.

Before the redhead had managed to close his door behind him though, Husky had started to let words tumble from his mouth without really thinking about it. It was stupid, he should just let Keane go to sleep and hopefully forget about all of this. Anything he told him about what was going on would just make the whole situation all the worse, but even still, his brain wasn't working quite right. He was sick, after all.

"We're not doing it to be mean, okay? It's just… it's really complicated. I _can't_ tell you. I mean, at least not right now. Maybe someday when things make sense again, just… not right now…" he fumbled, clutching the blanket tight around his neck so that there was no way for Keane to see the Anima markings. The cause of all their problems.

The redhead was staring back at him now, seeming just as surprised by his outburst as Husky was himself. After a few moments Keane nodded slightly, actually appearing to take what the younger boy had just said as an appropriate answer.

"Okay. I'm holding you to that, alright? Promise you'll tell me someday," he said, and reluctantly Husky found himself nodding, all the while berating himself in his head about how stupid he was being. He didn't want to _ever_ tell Keane if he could get away with it, but even still he heard himself speaking, as if someone else was controlling his voice.

"Sure, I promise," he said, as if this whole thing wasn't as big of a deal as it really was. To his surprise Keane actually smiled at that, nodding once again.

"Goodnight," the redhead said.

"Yeah, night," Husky mumbled, turning back around and heading into his own room. His light was still on, and the brightness hurt his eyes a bit. He didn't bother to go and turn it off at first though, instead heading right over to his bed and falling down onto it in a heap.

Stupid, stupid, _stupid_ Keane. Why did he have to ask so many questions? And why in the world had he actually agreed to tell him what was going on someday? He shouldn't have said anything. It was all so very stupid.

Half-heartedly reaching over, he flicked the switch for his lamp, casting his room into darkness. He still wasn't very tired, but he guessed he needed his rest if he was going to get any better.

It seemed like he definitely needed it too, if he was doing such idiotic things.

* * *

And yay, finally a new chapter after so very long. I hadn't planned anything that had happened in this chapter, just kind of letting the characters do what they want in order to get the feel for the story back (this explains the gratuitous amounts of Keane and Husky, doesn't it?) and this is what happened. The night that Husky was remembering what from the first two bonus chapters, Family Times and Like a Redheaded Stepchild.

Well, I hope you liked the chapter. Hopefully updates will continue as normal now. Thanks for reading, and as always, please review.


End file.
